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The online platform X has caused significant anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their garments.

Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.

It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

History of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.

"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of persons in a graphic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.

It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.