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The online platform X has caused major outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their attire.

Several cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.

Company Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Position and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.

History of Criticism and Rules

The system has been faulted for allowing users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.

"X has been enabling the generation 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 acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.