Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
