Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
