Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked widespread anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
