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Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their garments.

Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.

Company Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.

History of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.

"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".

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

It said services such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.