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Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their garments.

Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.

Developer Response and Regulatory Position

XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality

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

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

Background of Criticism and Policy

The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.

"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.