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Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their attire.

Several cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Regulator Position and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.

It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

History of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic material of public figures.

"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said services such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.