Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
