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Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their attire.

Numerous examples have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".

"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.

Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.

It is often used to give reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

History of Criticism and Policy

The system has been faulted for enabling users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.

"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic 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 sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.