Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
