Indonesia ‘conditionally’ lifts ban on Grok

Indonesia has followed Malaysia and the Philippines in lifting a ban on xAI’s chatbot Grok.

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. Late December and January, Grok was used to create at least 1.8 million sexualized images of womenaccording to separate analyzes from 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 X sent a letter “with concrete steps to improve services and prevent abuse” (translation via The New York Times).

Alexander Sabar, director general of the ministry of digital space monitoring, said the ban would only be lifted “conditionally” and could be reinstated if “further violations are discovered.”

Malaysia and the Philippines lifted their bans on January 23.

Grok’s deepfakes have drawn criticism and investigation – but only a few outright bans – from governments around the world. In the United States, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office was investigating xAI and had sent a cease and desist letter ordering the company to take immediate action to stop production of these images.

xAI appears to have taken some steps to limit Grok’s capabilities, including limiting the AI ​​image generation feature to paying subscribers to X. CEO Elon Musk has insisted“Anyone who uses Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” and said he is “not aware of any nude images of minors generated by Grok.”

Documents released Friday by the Department of Justice surrounding infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein include at least 16 emails between Musk and Epstein in 2012 and 2013, when Musk asked to visit Epstein’s Caribbean island and wondered what the “wildest party on your island” would be. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to recruiting an underage girl for prostitution.

xAI, meanwhile, is reportedly in talks to merge with two of Musk’s other companies, SpaceX and Tesla, ahead of a SpaceX initial public offering.