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The online platform X has provoked major outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their garments.

Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".

"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired 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 risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.

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

It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

Background of Controversy and Rules

The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of public figures.

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

XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of people in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.