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Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.

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

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.

It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.

History of Controversy and Rules

The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.

"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of persons in a pornographic manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.