Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures 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 sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
