Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
