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The online network X has provoked major anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their attire.

Several examples have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.

Developer Response and Legal Stance

XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.

It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

History of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.

"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.