India Orders X to Fix Grok Over Obscene Artificial Intelligence Content

Following complaints from users and MPs over the creation of “obscene” material, including AI-altered photographs of women, India has ordered Elon Musk’s X to make urgent technical and administrative improvements to its AI chatbot Grok.

India IT Ministry Orders Action Against Grok AI

The decision instructing Musk’s X to take remedial action on Grok, including limiting the creation of content including “nudity, sexualization, sexually explicit, or otherwise prohibited” material, was issued on Friday by India’s IT ministry. Additionally, the ministry instructed the social media platform 72 hours to submit an action-taken report outlining the measures it has taken to stop the storage or distribution of anything that is considered to be “obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, pedophilic, or otherwise illegal under law.”

TechCrunch examined the injunction, which cautioned that noncompliance might compromise X’s legal exemption from prosecution for user-generated material under Indian law, or “safe harbor” protections.

Elon Musk X Grok Controversy in India

India’s action comes after Indian legislator Priyanka Chaturvedi filed an official complaint after users revealed cases of Grok being pushed to change photographs of people, mostly women, to make them seem to be wearing bikinis. Separately, the AI chatbot produced sexualized photographs of youngsters, according to recent allegations; X admitted earlier on Friday that this was due to security flaws. Later on, the pictures were removed.

However, TechCrunch discovered that photographs created using Grok that used AI manipulation to make women seem to be wearing bikinis were still available on X at the time of publishing.

India Warning to X Over AI-Generated Images

The most recent directive comes just days after the Indian IT ministry reminded social media companies in a more comprehensive advisory on Monday—which TechCrunch also examined—that they must abide by local laws pertaining to pornographic and sexually explicit content in order to maintain legal immunity from liability for user-generated content. The recommendation advised businesses to bolster their internal security measures and cautioned that failing to do so would result in legal action under India’s criminal and IT laws.

The injunction cautioned, “It is underlined that non-compliance with the foregoing criteria will be considered severely and may result in strong legal repercussions against your platform, its responsible officials, and the users on the platform who violate the law, without any additional warning.”

India’s Growing Scrutiny of AI Platforms

According to the Indian government, X may face legal action under the country’s criminal and IT laws if they do not comply.

One of the largest digital marketplaces in the world, India, has become a crucial test case for the extent to which governments are prepared to hold platforms accountable for AI-generated material. Any increase in the nation’s enforcement might have repercussions for multinational IT firms that operate in many states.

Ongoing Legal Challenge by X

Even while the platform has agreed with the bulk of banning requests, Musk’s X is still contesting elements of India’s content regulatory laws in court, claiming that federal government takedown powers run the danger of going too far. Grok’s outputs are more public and politically sensitive than those of stand-alone AI technologies since X users are increasingly using it for real-time fact-checking and commenting on news events.

When asked about the Indian government’s directive, X and xAI did not immediately reply.

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I’m Gourav Kumar Singh, a graduate by education and a blogger by passion. Since starting my blogging journey in 2020, I have worked in digital marketing and content creation. Read more about me.