Indonesia follows Malaysia and the Philippines in lifting the ban on xAI’s chatbot Grok.
Southeast Asian countries banned Grok for being used to mass create non-consensual sexual images on X (now a subsidiary of xAI), including images of real women and minors. From late December to January, Grok was used to create at least 1.8 million sexually explicit images of women, according to separate analyzes by The New York Times and the Center to Combat Digital Hate.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital said in a statement that the ban was lifted after X sent a letter “outlining concrete steps to improve the service and prevent abuse” (translated by The New York Times).
Alexander Savard, head of the ministry’s Digital Space Monitoring Department, said the ban was being lifted only “conditionally” and could be reinstated “if further violations are discovered.”
Malaysia and the Philippines lifted the ban on January 23.
Grok deepfakes have spurred criticism and scrutiny from governments around the world, but only a few have been banned outright. In the United States, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office is investigating xAI and has sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering the company to take immediate action to stop producing these images.
xAI appears to have taken steps to limit Grok’s functionality, including restricting the AI image generation feature to paying X members. “Those who use Grok to create illegal content will suffer the same consequences as those who upload illegal content,” CEO Elon Musk said in a statement. “We are not aware of any images of naked minors being generated by Grok.”
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Documents released by the Justice Department on Friday regarding notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein include at least 16 emails between Musk and Epstein from 2012 to 2013, in which Musk requested a visit from Epstein to a Caribbean island and wondered about the “wildest party on your island.” Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting underage girls for prostitution.
Meanwhile, xAI is reportedly in advanced merger talks with two of Musk’s other companies, SpaceX and Tesla, ahead of SpaceX’s IPO.
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