Malaysia to take legal action against X over Grok AI concerns

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's communications regulator said on Tuesday it will take legal action against social media platform X due ​to concerns over user safety in relation to artificial intelligence ‌feature Grok. The generative AI chatbot Grok ⁠has sparked a ‌global backlash by allowing users to create and publish sexualised images, prompting authorities around the world to take action against xAI, the Elon Musk-led firm behind the chatbot.

Malaysia and Indonesia temporarily ​blocked Grok over the weekend, while Britain's media regulator launched an investigation into Musk's X and French officials have reported the social media firm to ‌prosecutors and ‌regulators.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said it has identified the misuse of Grok ⁠to generate and disseminate harmful content, including obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive, and non-consensual manipulated images.

"Content allegedly involving women and minors is ⁠of serious concern... Such conduct contravenes Malaysian ⁠law and undermines the entities’ stated safety commitments," ‌the commission said in a statement.

xAI replied to ‌a Reuters email seeking comment with what seemed to be an automated response: "Legacy Media Lies." X did not immediately respond to ‍a request for comment.

Malaysia's communications regulator said it served notices to X and xAI this month to remove the harmful content but said no action has been taken by the firms.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has strict laws governing online content, including a ban on obscene and pornographic materials. Malaysian authorities consider online gambling, ​scams, child pornography and ‌grooming, cyberbullying and content related to race, religion and royalty as harmful.