Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
