Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
