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The social media platform X has sparked significant anger after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.

Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.

Developer Response and Legal Stance

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Position and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.

Background of Criticism and Policy

The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.

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

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.