Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
