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Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.

Numerous examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.

Company Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.

"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of persons in a pornographic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.