MeitY Weighs Formal Inquiry Into Grok AI’s Offensive Responses

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is currently examining the controversy over Grok AI's responses, and a formal investigation will depend on the inputs received, S Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, told NDTV Profit.

“There is a new AI chatbot; there have been a few controversial statements made, including obscene language. Part of the problem is also how prompts are being given. We have to examine the whole issue and are currently in the process. So far, we have not launched any formal investigation or issued any notice,” he said.

It was earlier reported that the ministry is currently examining the issue and has sought a reply from X on the datasets used to train Grok, the company's AI bot. The ministry had sought a reply from X on the datasets used to train Grok, the company's AI bot.

Earlier this week, Grok's response in Hindi to an X user with abuses and slang raised concerns. An X user had prompted Grok to provide a list of the '10 best mutuals'. After a silence, the user responded with some harsh comments. This prompted Grok to retaliate with an equally casual tone and slur-loaded response.

Commenting on the timeline for implementation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act), the MeitY Secretary said, Extensive inputs have been received by stakeholders across the board and they are being compiled and examined. “Given the depth of inputs, it is only fair that we take time to examine. If there are changes to be made, we have to complete the consultation process. This will take a couple of months at least,” Krishnan said.

The MeitY Secretary, addressing the concerns of the electronics manufacturing industry facing uncertainties amid tariff wars, said that the ministry has provided its inputs to the Commerce ministry, which is being looked at. “The overall issue of tariffs needs to be addressed in a holistic manner. The issue is an important electronics industry; we will know soon enough on further action,” Krishnan said.

Earlier this month, the ministry launched AI Kosha, a platform to provide the right compute, datasets, tools and secure sandbox environments to researchers, entrepreneurs and startups to build AI applications and solutions. The platform was initially launched with datasets primarily from government organisations. The MeitY Secretary said that the government will be open to receiving datasets from private entities as well.