Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
