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The online network X has provoked widespread outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their attire.

Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.

Company Response and Regulatory Position

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

A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.

History of Criticism and Policy

The system has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of celebrities.

"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.