Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
