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The social media platform X has provoked significant outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.

Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.

Company Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.

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

It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.

History of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.

"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.