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Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.

Numerous instances have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.

History of Criticism and Policy

The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.

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

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.