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Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked significant backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their clothing.

Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.

It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

History of Controversy and Rules

The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of celebrities.

"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.