Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
