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The online network X has sparked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by removing their garments.

Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.

History of Controversy and Policy

The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit material of public figures.

"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.