Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
