Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
