Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
