Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked significant anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
