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The online platform X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by stripping their garments.

Several examples have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".

"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

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

It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

History of Controversy and Rules

The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.

"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting images of persons in a pornographic manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.