Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
