Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
