Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to create images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
