Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
