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The online network X has caused major anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their garments.

Several cases have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.

Developer Response and Regulatory Stance

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

A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".

"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.

It is often used to give reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.

"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.