Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
