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The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their garments.

Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.

Company Response and Regulatory Position

XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose 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 "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

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

It is commonly used to offer commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

Background of Criticism and Policy

The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.

"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".

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

It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.