MeitY takes cognisance of Grok misuse on X, action to follow soon: Secretary S Krishnan

India’s electronics and IT ministry has taken cognisance of the misuse of X’s artificial intelligence tool Grok to generate obscene images, and action will follow soon, S Krishnan, Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview.

Speaking on the issue, Krishnan said the matter had been flagged to the ministry only recently and was already under examination. “It has been brought to our notice today and we are taking action on this and we will make sure that we act on this fairly quickly,” he said, signalling regulatory scrutiny of the platform and its AI systems.

Krishnan also made it clear that technology platforms cannot evade responsibility by citing legal protections. “They cannot escape from their duty or liability simply by pleading that they have Safe Harbour under section 79(1) of the IT Act,” he said, underlining the government’s position that intermediaries remain accountable when their tools are misused.

The remarks come amid growing outrage over a trend on X where users allegedly used Grok to morph photographs of women and children into sexually compromising images. The activity escalated around New Year’s Eve, with manipulated images being circulated widely without consent, raising serious concerns around online safety, privacy and AI-enabled sexual abuse.

Following reports of misuse, Grok said it had restricted certain features. “xAI has implemented strict guidelines to prevent Grok from generating explicit or non-consensual content,” the AI tool said in an automated response to CNBC-TV18, adding that it had “hidden the media feature and encourage reporting violations via X”.

Cyber-safety experts, however, have warned that partial restrictions may not be sufficient, as morphed images continue to circulate on social media platforms. They have also argued that AI-driven image manipulation constitutes a form of sexual violence, particularly when minors are involved, and have called for stronger enforcement and clearer accountability frameworks for platforms deploying generative AI tools.

Also Read | Global outrage as X’s Grok morphs photos of women, children into explicit content