Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms 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 tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
