Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming 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' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
