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The online network X has sparked major outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their garments.

Several instances have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.

Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.

It is often used to give reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic content of public figures.

"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.