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Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.

Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.

History of Criticism and Policy

The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.

"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.