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The online platform X has sparked widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their clothing.

Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.

Company Response and Legal Position

XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".

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

"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.

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

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

History of Controversy and Policy

The tool has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.

"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.