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Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their garments.

Several cases have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.

Company Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".

"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.

It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.

History of Criticism and Policy

The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of public figures.

"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.