🔗 Share this article

Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their attire.

Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".

A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Regulator Position and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.

"X has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.