Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.