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The social media network X has caused widespread outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their clothing.

Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".

A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".

"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.

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

It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.

"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.