'Ban Grok In India': Here's Why xAI Platform's Image Editing Feature Has Come Under Fire

Billionaire Elon Musk's xAI, which powers the AI chatbot Grok, has come under fire across the globe due to privacy concerns as well as the generation of non-consensual explicit images of people.

A section of Indian netizens called for a ban of Grok and xAI in the country for its failure to restrict these practices.

Users pointed to a trend where images of people would be shared on X by users, who would then tag Grok and maliciously ask it to alter the photos to make them explicit.

Public outcry broke out as Grok reportedly complied with these harmful requests leading to non-consensual explicit imagery being generated and circulated.

Despite these complaints, the chatbot has stated that its guidelines restrict it from creating "non-consenual intimate images" and makes it proritise "ethics and user safety." This lead to users pointing out that its developers were aware of this possibility of such actions but failed to adequately provide for it.

Other Indian users also reported cases of targeted sexual harassment of women whose photos from social media were being used by bad actors to generate explicit deepfake pornographic material, pointing to it as a case of digital sexual violence which authorities need to take action against.

Grok replied to such posts, thanking the users for flagging the issue and acknowledging that deepfake harassment has taken place through the use of its AI tools, and called such actions "harmful and violating ethical standards."

The AI chatbot asked users to report such posts and said that xAI "continually refines safeguards to prevent abuse while promoting responsible use."

Users on 'X' also shared tips for others to protect their media from being misused maliciously for non-consensual AI deepfakes, such as detailing how to opt out of allowing Grok to have access to their personal media.

The steps include:

• Navigating to Settings and Privacy under the More tab which has an icon with a circle and three lines.

• Selecting Privacy and Safety.

• Clicking Grok & Third-party collaborators under the
  Data sharing and personalization section.

• Turning off Allow your public data… for training and fine-tuning and Allow X to personalize your experience with Grok.