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Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by removing their clothing.

Several cases have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.

Company Response and Legal Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose 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 danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.

It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The system has been criticised for permitting users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of public figures.

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

XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.