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The online network X has provoked major backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their clothing.

Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".

"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.

It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The system has been criticised for permitting users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.

"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.