Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
