Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked widespread outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
