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Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their clothing.

Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.

Company Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Position and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently 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' queries when they mention it in a message.

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

Background of Criticism and Policy

The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.

"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.