Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
