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The social media platform X has sparked widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their attire.

Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.

Developer Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.

It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its AI image editing feature.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.

"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.