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Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their attire.

Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".

"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.

It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.

History of Controversy and Rules

The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of public figures.

"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.