Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block access to Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, after authorities said the tool was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images, including those involving women and minors, BBC reported.
Officials in both countries said existing safeguards were insufficient to prevent users from creating and sharing fake pornographic content, which they described as a serious violation of privacy, human dignity and digital safety. Indonesia’s communications ministry and Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission both imposed temporary restrictions while demanding stronger protections.
The moves come amid international concern about generative AI tools that can produce realistic deepfakes and manipulated images. In response to global backlash, the platform X—where Grok operates—limited its image-generation feature to paying users, but many regulators say that does not go far enough.
Authorities in other regions, including the United Kingdom and European Union, have also launched investigations or signaled potential legal action against Grok and similar AI technologies, as policymakers grapple.
xAI’s Grok, the AI tool by Elon Musk, decided to switch off its image creation function for vast majority of users after it was reported that it was being used to undress women and minors. The decision was taken after Musk was threatened with fines, regulatory action. In a post on X, Grok said: “image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers.”
