Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
