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The online platform X has caused major backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by removing their garments.

Several examples have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.

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

History of Controversy and Policy

The system has been condemned for allowing users to create images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.

"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.