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The social media network X has sparked major outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their garments.

Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Company Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.

It is often used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.

History of Criticism and Policy

The system has been criticised for permitting users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.

"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.