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The social media network X has sparked widespread outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their attire.

Multiple instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.

Company Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

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

It is often used to give reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic content of public figures.

"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a graphic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.