Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
