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Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked major outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their garments.

Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.

Company Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.

It is frequently used to give commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its AI image editing feature.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.

"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.