Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
