Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
