Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked significant anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
