Malaysia, Indonesia block Musk’s Grok over sexualised AI images

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP):

Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, as concerns grow among global authorities that it is being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images.

There is growing scrutiny of generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, and concern that existing safeguards are failing to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, accessed through Musk's social media platform X, has been criticised for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children.

"The government sees non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of citizens in the digital space," Indonesian Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement.

Scrutiny of Grok is growing, including in the European Union, India, France and the United Kingdom, which said Monday it was moving to criminalise "nudification apps". Britain's media regulator also launched an investigation into whether Grok broke the law by allowing users to share sexualised images of children.

Last week, Grok limited image generation and editing to paying users following a global backlash over sexualised deepfakes of people, but critics say it didn't fully address the problem.

Regulators in the two Southeast Asian nations said existing controls weren't preventing the creation and spread of fake pornographic content, particularly involving women and minors. Indonesia's government temporarily blocked access to Grok on Saturday, followed by Malaysia on Sunday.

Initial findings showed Grok lacks effective safeguards to stop users from creating and distributing pornographic content based on real photos of Indonesian residents, Alexander Sabar, director-general of digital space supervision, said in a statement. He said such practices risk violating privacy and image rights when photos are manipulated or shared without consent.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission noted "repeated misuse" of the tool to generate obscene, sexually explicit and non-consensual manipulated images, including content involving women and minors.

The regulator said notices were issued this month to X Corp. and xAI demanding stronger safeguards.

"The restriction is imposed as a preventive and proportionate measure while legal and regulatory processes are ongoing," it said, adding that access will remain blocked until effective safeguards are put in place.

Launched in 2023, Grok is free to use on X. An image generator feature, Grok Imagine, was added last year and included a so-called spicy mode that can generate adult content.

The UK's media regulator said it launched an investigation into whether Grok violated its duty to protect people from illegal content. The regulator, Ofcom, said Grok-generated images of children being sexualised or people being undressed may amount to pornography or child sexual abuse material.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall called the AI-generated images "weapons of abuse" and said the centre-left Labour government would target the source of the problem by making it a crime for companies to supply tools to create nude images without consent.

Kendall said X could face a possible Ofcom fine of up to 10 per cent of its qualifying global revenue, depending on the investigation's outcome and a possible court order blocking access to the site.