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Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their garments.

Several examples have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.

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

It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.

Background of Controversy and Rules

The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.

"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.