India has ordered Elon Musk’s X to make instant technical and procedural modifications to its AI chatbot Grok after customers and lawmakers flagged the era of “obscene” content material, together with AI-altered photos of ladies created utilizing the software.
On Friday, India’s IT ministry issued the order directing Musk’s X to take corrective motion on Grok, together with limiting the era of content material involving “nudity, sexualization, sexually specific, or in any other case illegal” materials. The ministry additionally gave the social media platform 72 hours to submit an action-taken report detailing the steps it has taken to stop the internet hosting or dissemination of content material deemed “obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually specific, pedophilic, or in any other case prohibited below legislation.”
The order, reviewed by TechCrunch, warned that failure to conform may jeopardize X’s “secure harbor” protections — authorized immunity from legal responsibility for user-generated content material below Indian legislation.
India’s transfer follows considerations raised by customers who shared examples of Grok being prompted to change photos of people — primarily girls — to make them look like carrying bikinis, prompting a formal complaint from Indian parliamentarian Priyanka Chaturvedi. Individually, latest studies flagged situations wherein the AI chatbot generated sexualized images involving minors, a problem X acknowledged earlier on Friday was attributable to lapses in safeguards. These photos have been later taken down.
Nevertheless, photos generated utilizing Grok that made girls look like carrying bikinis by means of AI alteration remained accessible on X on the time of publication, TechCrunch discovered.
The newest order comes days after the Indian IT ministry issued a broader advisory on Monday, which was additionally reviewed by TechCrunch, to social media platforms, reminding them that compliance with native legal guidelines governing obscene and sexually specific content material is a prerequisite for retaining authorized immunity from legal responsibility for user-generated materials. The advisory urged corporations to strengthen inside safeguards and warned that failure to take action may invite authorized motion below India’s IT and prison legal guidelines.
“It’s reiterated that non-compliance with the above necessities shall be seen significantly and should lead to strict authorized penalties in opposition to your platform, its accountable officers and the customers on the platform who violate the legislation, with none additional discover,” the order warned.
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The Indian authorities stated non-compliance may result in motion in opposition to X below India’s IT legislation and prison statutes.
India, one of many world’s greatest digital markets, has emerged as a essential take a look at case for a way far governments are prepared to go in holding platforms chargeable for AI-generated content material. Any tightening of enforcement within the nation may have ripple results for world know-how corporations working throughout a number of jurisdictions.
The order comes as Musk’s X continues to problem elements of India’s content material regulation guidelines in court docket, arguing that federal authorities takedown powers danger overreach, even because the platform has complied with a majority of blocking directives. On the identical time, Grok has been more and more utilized by X customers for real-time fact-checking and commentary on information occasions, making its outputs extra seen — and extra politically delicate — than these of standalone AI instruments.
X and xAI didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the Indian authorities’s order.
