Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
