Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
