Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their attire.
Several examples have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
