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The online network X has caused major anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their attire.

Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.

Developer Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."

Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.

Background of Controversy and Rules

The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of celebrities.

"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.