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The social media network X has provoked major outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their clothing.

Multiple cases have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.

Developer Response and Regulatory Position

XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.

It is frequently used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.

History of Criticism and Rules

The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.

"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.