Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
