Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
