Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their garments.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make 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 required to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
