'Grok being misused to sexualise women': Priyanka Chaturvedi seeks govt's intervention

New Delhi: Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday sought government intervention to tackle the “misuse” of ‘Grok’ on social media platform X by fake accounts, which prompts the AI tool to sexualise women.

In a letter to Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the senior MP expressed hope that the authorities take up the issue of misuse of AI for demeaning acts towards women with big techs.

“...a new trend has emerged on social media, especially ‘X’, by misusing their AI Grok feature where men are using fake accounts to post women’s photos and pushing out prompts to Grok to minimise their clothing and sexualise them,” Chaturvedi said.

Sharing the letter on X, she said, "...I wish men indulging in such behaviour were educated better at their homes and schools so as to not become such sick perverts in their adulthood."

In the letter, she said it was “not just limited to sharing photos” through fake accounts but also “target women who post their own photos”. This is “unacceptable and gross misuse” of the AI.

“What is worse is that Grok is enabling this behaviour by adhering to such requests. This is breach of women’s right to privacy as well as unauthorised use of their pictures, which is not just unethical but also criminal,” she said.

A member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology and Communication, she said she wanted the Minister to strongly take up the issue with X to ensure safeguards are built in their AI features to make the platform a safe space for women.

“Our country cannot be a bystander to women’s dignity being violated publicly and digitally with zero consequences under the grab of creativity and innovation condone such prompts,” she said.

Emphasising that similar patterns are witnessed even on other big tech platforms that are going “absolutely unchecked”, she said the government should ensure that women do not become victims of “such openly criminal practices” that “further silences them and pushes them out of these platforms”.

Urging the government to take up the issue with tech companies, she said, “...while we welcome AI and its role in making lives easier for the world, we will not allow a proliferation of such demeaning acts towards women.”