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Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their attire.

Multiple cases have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.

Company Response and Regulatory Stance

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

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".

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

Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.

History of Criticism and Policy

The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.

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

XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of persons in a graphic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.