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The online network X has provoked major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their attire.

Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.

Company Response and Regulatory Position

XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".

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

Regulator Position and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

History of Criticism and Policy

The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.

"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit way".

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

It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.