Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
