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The social media network X has provoked major backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their garments.

Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.

Developer Response and Legal Stance

XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".

"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify 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 photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.

"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.