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Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.

Several cases have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.

Company Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.

It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.

"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying images of individuals in a graphic fashion".

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

It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.