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The social media network X has sparked major anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their garments.

Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".

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

Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

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

It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

Background of Controversy and Rules

The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making graphic material of celebrities.

"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.