Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread anger after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images 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 "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
