Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
