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The social media network X has provoked significant backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their attire.

Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".

"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.

It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

History of Criticism and Policy

The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.

"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a pornographic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.