Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation 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 bans "depicting images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
