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Elon Musk's social media network X has caused widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.

Several cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Position and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.

It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The tool has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.

"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.