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The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their garments.

Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

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

"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.

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

It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.

"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.