Malaysia blocks Grok amid uproar over non-consensual sexualised images 

Malaysia has blocked access to Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence model Grok amid a global uproar over the chatbot’s ability to create sexuality explicit images of people without their consent.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it had temporarily banned Grok after ordering the chatbot’s developer xAI and the social media platform X to introduce safeguards to ensure compliance with the law.

In response to regulatory notices issued last week, X “focused primarily on the user-initiated reporting mechanisms and failed to address the inherent risks that arise from the design and operation of the AI tool,” the MCMC said in a statement on Sunday.

“MCMC considers this insufficient to prevent harm or ensure legal compliance.”

The Malaysian watchdog’s announcement came a day after Indonesia became the world’s first country to formally ban the chatbot, which is offered as both a standalone platform and an in-built feature on X.

Grok has been mired in controversy in recent days over the use of its image-generation tool to depict real people in minimal clothing and sexualised poses without their consent.

The spread of the sexualised deepfakes, some of them including minors, has prompted condemnation and calls to action from officials in numerous countries, including the US, UK, Germany, France, and Australia.

xAI initially responded to a request for comment from Al Jazeera with an automated response saying: “Legacy Media Lies.”

A spokesperson later directed Al Jazeera to an earlier statement by X, which said the platform takes action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material.

“Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” the statement said.

Grok last week began limiting the use of its image-generation tool on X to paid subscribers in an apparent bid to quell the controversy.

European officials and campaigners reacted negatively to the move, saying it did little to resolve the core problem of facilitating non-consensual imagery.