Indonesia and Malaysia block Musk’s Grok over sexualised images

Officials say ban is to ‘protect women, children and the broader public’ from the mass production of AI-generated pornographic content

Elon Musk launched Grok in 2023 in response to 'woke' AI models from competitors like Google and OpenAI (iStock/ Getty Images)

Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first two countries to block Elon Musk’s Grok over the AI tool’s ability to produce non-consensual sexualised images of people.

The Grok chatbot, which is developed by Mr Musk’s xAI and accessible through his social media platform X, has been used to produce thousands of images of real people in states of undress, including children.

The South East Asian countries announced the bans over the weekend, while officials in the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and India are also considering action.

Indonesia’s communication and digital affairs minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement that the ban is to “protect women, children and the broader public from the risks of fake pornographic content generated using artificial intelligence technology.”

Malaysian officials told local media that the ban follows “the repeated misuse of Grok to generate obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive, and non-consensual manipulated images, including content involving women and minors.”

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said it had issued notices to X and xAI earlier this month calling for more effective safeguards against users creating sexualised images of real people.

The Independent contacted xAI for comment and received a three-word automated response: “Legacy media lies.”

Mr Musk launched Grok in 2023, pitching it as an edgy alternative to “politically correct” AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The AI tool caused controversy last summer after an update saw it praise Adolf Hitler and endorse a second Holocaust.

A subsequent update aimed to address the issue of extremist content, however the addition of a “spicy mode” just weeks later allowed it to generate adult content.

UK regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation into X over potential breaches of the Online Safety Act.

UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said in a statement on Friday: “I would remind xAI that the Online Safety Act Includes the power to block services from being accessed in the UK, if they refuse to comply with UK law.

“If Ofcom decide to use those powers they will have our full support... We are in the coming weeks bringing in to force powers to criminalise the creation of intimate images without consent.”