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Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.

Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".

"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.

It is commonly used to give commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

History of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been faulted for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.

"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.