Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
