Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
