Indonesia Lifts Ban on Musk’s Grok Chatbot

Malaysia Lifts Suspension on Musk's Grok Chatbot Malaysia Lifts Suspension on Musk's Grok Chatbot
Malaysia Lifts Suspension on Musk's Grok Chatbot Credit:Chinadaily

Indonesia will restore access to Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, after the social media platform X(formerly Twitter) pledged to comply with national regulations, a government official said on Sunday.

The decision follows backlash over Grok’s image-generation feature, which was found to allow the sexualisation of images of women and children through text prompts. 

The controversy prompted Indonesia, alongside Malaysia and the Philippines, to temporarily block the tool over concerns about AI-generated sexual deepfakes.

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Indonesia to Restore Access to Musk’s Grok Chatbot Credit: Bloomberg

A senior official at Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, Alexander Sabar, said access would be restored on a conditional basis after X Corp submitted a written commitment outlining concrete measures to improve the service and prevent misuse.

He added that authorities would continue to monitor and evaluate Grok, warning that corrective action, including renewed suspension, would be taken if further violations were identified.

Malaysia has also reinstated access to Grok after receiving similar assurances from X, including promises of additional preventive and security safeguards.

In late January, the European Union said it had launched an investigation into the use of Grok to create sexualised deepfake images involving women and minors. In response, Grok announced it would limit image generation and editing features to paying subscribers.

Grok is developed by xAI, an AI startup owned by Elon Musk. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but previously told Philippine authorities it would adjust the chatbot for local markets by excluding pornographic content, particularly material involving child sexual abuse.

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