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The online platform X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their garments.

Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Company Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.

It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.

"X has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.