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The online network X has caused major backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.

Several instances have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.

Company Response and Regulatory Position

XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".

"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.

It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

History of Criticism and Rules

The system has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of celebrities.

"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a pornographic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.

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