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Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.

Multiple cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.

Company Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.

Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.

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

History of Criticism and Rules

The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.

"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.

It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.