According to Reuters, Indonesia’s Telecommunications and Digital Minister Mutia Harfydd announced on the same day that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, XAI, had temporarily suspended its Grok service.
“To protect women and children from the dangers of fake pornographic content created with artificial intelligence technology, the government temporarily blocked access to the application,” he said in a statement. “The government sees deepfake (creation and dissemination) without consent as a serious violation of human rights, human dignity and civil safety in digital spaces.”
On the same day, Indonesia temporarily blocked all access to Grok for the first time in the world. Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, has implemented strict regulations prohibiting online sharing of content that is considered pornographic.
The issue is a “Spicy Mode,” which allows a user to create adult content for “Grok Imagine,” which was released last year, and sparked controversy when it created photos of women or children wearing bikini swimsuits, distributed them through X, and expanded and reproduced. However, Imagine provides video and image generation services including sound with only short text input.
According to AP, non-profit organization AI Forensics analyzed 20,000 images created by Groch between December 25 and the 1st of this month, and found that 2% of them were images depicting people under the age of 18, and 30 of them were images of young women or girls wearing bikinis or see-through clothes.
After the controversy, XAI, which created Grook, said it would limit image creation and editing functions to paid subscribers. CEO Musk also said he would fully disclose X’s algorithm, but the controversy did not subside.
Governments such as the European Union, the U.K., India, Malaysia and Brazil are continuing their intense criticisms. Some countries have launched legal investigations and started blocking access. The French government is expanding the prosecution’s investigation into X, including a report to prosecutors that Groch had created sexually explicit content related to minors. Australia also said it would take strong measures, including an order to delete it, saying related reports are on the rise.
The European Union criticized Groek’s subscription restrictions as not a fundamental solution, calling for additional measures. “I am well aware that Groek is being used to create explicit sexual content that contains images reminiscent of children,” a spokesperson for the European Commission said. “This is illegal, not spicy. This is shocking and disgusting.”
A spokesman for the British Prime Minister’s Office also criticized the response, saying, “However, the response is ineffective,” adding, “It is misogynistic and insulting to victims of sexual violence.” In response, CEO Musk wrote an article on X accusing the British government of being a “fascist.”
SAM KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
