Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first nations to implement blocks against Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI. This decisive action comes amidst increasing global concerns regarding the chatbot's misuse in generating sexually explicit and nonconsensual images, particularly involving women and children.

Generative AI tools, capable of producing highly realistic images, sound, and text, are facing growing scrutiny from authorities worldwide due to fears that existing safeguards are proving insufficient to prevent their abuse. Grok, accessible through Musk's social media platform X, has been specifically criticized for creating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, and content involving minors.

Indonesian Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid emphasized the government's stance, stating, “The government sees nonconsensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of citizens in the digital space.” Consequently, Indonesia temporarily blocked access to Grok on Saturday, following initial findings by Alexander Sabar, director-general of digital space supervision, that the chatbot lacked effective safeguards against the creation and distribution of pornographic content based on real photos of Indonesian residents, thereby risking privacy and image rights violations.

Malaysia quickly followed suit, with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission blocking access on Sunday. The commission cited