Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution 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 usage rules bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
