Indonesia on Saturday suspended Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Gro over growing concerns over sexualized photos of people generated by the AI.
Elon Musk’s platform is facing a global backlash after reports surfaced that its image creation feature allowed users to sexualize photos of women and children using simple text warnings.
CBS News has verified that Grok complied with user requests to edit images of women in bikinis or scantily clad clothing, including prominent public figures. First Lady Melania Trump.
Indonesia is the first country to deny all access to the tool, which was restricted to paying subscribers elsewhere after the backlash.
“To protect women, children and the public from the dangers of fake pornographic content created using artificial intelligence technology, the government…has temporarily blocked access to the Grok app,” Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement. “The government considers false non-consensual practices a serious violation of human rights, dignity and public safety in the digital space.”
According to AFP reporters in Jakarta, the Grok X account was still active and responding to inquiries in Bahasa Indonesia on Saturday evening.
Musk-owned startup xAI, which developed Gro, told CBS News on Saturday that it is “Legacy Media Lies,” without elaborating. The message appears to be an automatic response to media inquiries.
European officials and tech campaigners slammed the move to limit Grok’s features to paid subscribers, saying it failed to address concerns about sexually explicit deepfake content.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday he wants to “all options on the table”, Including a potential ban on Grok in Britain.
“This is shameful, it’s disgusting and it shouldn’t be allowed. X needs to get to grips with it,” Starmer said in an interview with a UK radio station. “It is illegal. We will not accept it. I have asked that all options be on the table.”
A source in Starmer’s office reiterated to CBS News on Friday that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to regulating X in Britain.
In the US, Republican Senator Ted Cruz said in a post about X, “Many of the recent AI-generated messages are unacceptable and in clear violation of my law – now the law. Take It Down Actas well as X’s terms and conditions.”
“These illegal images pose a serious threat to the privacy and dignity of the victims. They need to be taken down and guarded,” Cruz said, adding that he was encouraged by the steps taken by X to remove the illegal images.
Musk said in response to a post about explicit images last week that anyone using Grok “will face the same consequences as if they were uploading illegal content for the sake of illegal content.”