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The online network X has provoked major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their garments.

Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.

Company Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.

History of Controversy and Policy

The system has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.

"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of people in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.