Malaysia and Indonesia quickly blocked access to Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot after people were outraged that it made sexually explicit, non-consensual deepfake images, some of which showed minors. The move shows that people around the world are getting more worried about how AI can be misused, and officials are asking xAI for stronger protections.
After Indonesia took action the day before, Malaysian regulators put temporary limits in place on Sunday because Grok’s “Imagine” feature makes it easy to make obscene content from text prompts on X. People used the tool to make fake sexualized images without permission, breaking both countries’ strict anti-pornography laws. xAI limited image generation to paying subscribers in response, but officials said that X’s user-reporting system was not good enough.
Meutya Hafid, Indonesia’s Communications Minister, called the deepfakes “digital-based violence” and a violation of human rights. The Communications and Multimedia Commission of Malaysia said that access will stay limited until strong protections are in place, especially for women and children. Elon Musk warned on X that people who make illegal content could face consequences on the platform. xAI, on the other hand, called media inquiries “Legacy Media Lies.”
Lawmakers in the UK, EU, India, and US are also calling for investigations or the removal of apps from stores. The Justice Department and US Democratic lawmakers stressed the importance of prosecuting AI-generated child abuse material. This ban shows how important it is to have AI content moderation right now, as technology is moving so quickly.
