Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
