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The social media network X has caused major backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their clothing.

Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.

Company Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".

"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a post.

It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.

"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

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

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.