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The online platform X has sparked widespread anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their attire.

Several instances have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.

Developer Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

History of Criticism and Policy

The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.

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

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.

It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.