Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked major outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
