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The social media platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their garments.

Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.

Company Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".

"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The system has been condemned for allowing users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.

"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.