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The online network X has caused major anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by stripping their garments.

Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.

Company Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and significant penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.

History of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.

"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.