Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
