Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
