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The online platform X has sparked significant outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by removing their clothing.

Several cases have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.

It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.

Background of Controversy and Rules

The tool has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.

"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.

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

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.