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Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.

Several examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

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

"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Regulator Position and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a post.

It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.

"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.