Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their garments.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
