Indonesia followed Malaysia and the Philippines in lifting the ban on xAI Grok’s chatbot.
Southeast Asian countries banned Grok after it was used to create a flood of non-consensual, sexualized images on X (now a subsidiary of xAI), including images of real women and minors. End of December and January, Grok was used to create at least 1.8 million sexual images of womenaccording to separate analyzes by The New York Times and the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
In a statementIndonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs said it lifted the ban after sending X a letter that “outlines concrete steps for service improvements and prevention of misuse” (translation via the New York Times).
Alexander Sabar, the ministry’s general director for monitoring the digital space, said the ban was being lifted only “conditionally” and could be reinstated if “further violations are discovered.”
Malaysia and the Philippines lifted their bans on January 23.
Grok’s deep fakes have drawn criticism and investigations — but only a few outright bans — from governments around the world. In the United States, California Attorney General Rob Bonda said his office is investigating xAI and sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering the company to take immediate steps to end production of these images.
xAI appears to have taken a number of steps to limit Grok’s capabilities, including limiting the ability to create AI images to paying subscribers to X. CEO Elon Musk insisted“Anyone using Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as uploading illegal content,” and said he was “unaware of any nude images of minors generated by Grok.”
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Documents released by the Justice Department on Friday about notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein include at least 16 emails between Musk and Epstein in 2012 and 2013, with Musk asking to visit Epstein’s Caribbean island and wondering about the “craziest party on your island.” Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring an underage girl for prostitution in 2008.
xAI, meanwhile, is reportedly in merger talks with two of Musk’s other companies, SpaceX and Tesla, in anticipation of a SpaceX IPO.
