Malaysia, Indonesia Block AI Chatbot Over Concerns
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysia and Indonesia have taken action to block access to Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot created by Elon Musk’s xAI. Authorities in these Southeast Asian nations say the tool is being misused to create inappropriate images.
Regulators are worried about the rise of AI tools that can make realistic images and text. They say current safety measures are not enough to stop the creation and spread of fake and explicit content, especially involving women and children.
Indonesia put a temporary block on Grok, followed by Malaysia. Officials stated that initial findings showed Grok lacked strong enough protections against the creation and sharing of such content.
“The government views the creation of fake sexual content as a serious issue,” said an Indonesian official. “It violates basic rights and endangers the safety of people online.”
In Malaysia, regulators said they had asked X Corp. and xAI to improve their safety measures. However, the responses they received relied too much on users reporting problems.
“This block is a necessary step while we work to put better safeguards in place,” Malaysian officials said.
Grok, launched last year, allows users to ask questions and generate images. While the company has taken some steps to limit the creation of adult content, critics argue that these measures don’t fully solve the problem. Other countries, including those in Europe, are also looking into Grok and its potential for misuse.
