Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their garments.
Several cases have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
