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The online platform X has caused major backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their attire.

Several examples have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."

Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality

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

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.

History of Criticism and Rules

The tool has been criticised for allowing users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.

"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images created with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.