Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
