Using Grok to Create Illegal Content Will Carry Same Consequences as Uploading It: Elon Musk

New Delhi: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Saturday asserted that anyone using Grok AI to generate illegal content would face the same legal consequences as those who upload such material. His statement came a day after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) took action against X Corp for failing to curb the generation and circulation of obscene, nude and indecent content on its platform.

Musk was responding on X to a post by DogeDesigner, a UI/UX and graphic designer associated with the DOGE team, who noted that some users were blaming Grok for creating inappropriate images. Drawing an analogy, DogeDesigner wrote that blaming Grok was akin to blaming a pen for writing something objectionable, arguing that responsibility lies with the person using the tool.

Responding to the post, Musk said, “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”

On Friday, the government directed X Corp to submit an action taken report (ATR) within 72 hours, seeking immediate compliance to prevent the hosting, generation, publication, transmission or sharing of obscene, nude, indecent and explicit content through the misuse of AI-based services such as Grok and other xAI offerings.

The directive warned that failure to comply would be treated seriously and could invite strict legal action against the platform, its responsible officers and users violating the law, without further notice. Such action may be taken under the Information Technology Act, IT Rules, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and other applicable laws.

MeitY also instructed X to carry out a comprehensive review of Grok’s technical and governance frameworks to ensure the prevention of unlawful content. The ministry emphasised the need for strict enforcement of user policies, including suspension or termination of accounts found violating the law.

The directive further stated that all offending content must be removed immediately without tampering with evidence. The ministry cautioned that continued non-compliance could result in the loss of safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act and trigger penal action under multiple statutes, including the BNS, the Indecent Representation of Women Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

With inputs from IANS