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The online network X has sparked major outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their clothing.

Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating graphic material of public figures.

"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.