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The social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by removing their attire.

Numerous cases have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.

Company Response and Legal Stance

XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The tool has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.

"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

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

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.