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The social media network X has caused major outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their garments.

Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.

It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.

History of Controversy and Rules

The system has been condemned for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic content of celebrities.

"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of individuals in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.