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Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.

Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Company Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.

It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing feature.

History of Criticism and Policy

The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.

"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.