Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
