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The social media platform X has provoked widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their attire.

Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.

"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.