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Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked major outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.

Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".

"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.

It is commonly used to give commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.

Background of Criticism and Rules

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

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

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of persons in a graphic manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.