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The social media network X has caused widespread outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.

Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.

Company Response and Legal Stance

XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".

"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities

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

Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.

It is commonly used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.

"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.