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The online network X has caused major outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their clothing.

Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.

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

It is frequently used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.

History of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.

"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.