Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
