MeitY Flags Grok AI Misuse To Create Sexually Explicit Content, Issues 72-Hour Ultimatum To X
Government has raised concerns over the misuse of Grok to generate and circulate obscene, sexually explicit and derogatory content, particularly targeting women.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday wrote to X, the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk, flagging serious lapses in statutory due diligence under the IT Act and IT Rules.
In its formal notice, the government marked concern over the rapid misuse of Grok AI—the artificial intelligence tool of X—for generating and circulating obscene, sexually explicit and derogatory content.
This misuse of the AI tool is particularly impacting women and children, and counts as a serious violation of dignity, privacy and digital safety, it added.
MeitY has issued X a 72-hour ultimatum, seeing an action-taken report by then. It has directed the platform to immediately review Grok’s technical and governance framework, remove all unlawful content, and take action against offending users.
The government has warned X that continued non-compliance of norms will lead to loss of legal protection under the IT Act, and strict action under multiple cyber, criminal and child protection laws.
The failure to adopt platform-level safeguards has resulted in the misuse of Grok AI, the ministry said, adding that the misuse also amounts to violations under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and Indecent Representation of Women Act.
The action came after Rajya Sabha lawmaker Priyanka Chaturvedi called for the Centre's intervention to safeguard the privacy rights of women, as AI apps like Grok were are being misused by miscreants.
On X, men are creating fake accounts to upload women's photos, and then using the Grok AI feature to sexualise those images, she pointed out in a letter to Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav.
"It is not just limited to sharing photos through fake accounts but are also targeting women who post their own photos. This is unacceptable and gross misuse of an Al function. I write to you as an active member of the Standing Committee on IT & Communication to urge you as a minister to take this up strongly with X to ensure safeguards are built in their AI apps to make the platform a safe space for women," Chaturvedi said.
