Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by removing their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
