Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Several examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok 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 Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
