Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
