Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
