India has become one of the important mediums where this fight is taking place. The nation underscores the importance of the platforms’ crucial obligations to address AI-generated material. The Indian Ministry of Information Technology took direct and immediate action against Elon Musk’s social media platform X. Through these efforts, they ordered the platform to take corrective actions on its AI chatbot, Grok. This directive comes on the heels of other user and lawmaker concerns regarding the widespread production of sexualized content.
The ministry’s order specifically mandates that X restrict the generation of content involving “nudity, sexualization, sexually explicit, or otherwise unlawful” material. This ruling comes on the heels of repeated reports about Grok’s AI-edited photographs. Many users have understandably complained that these images over-sexualize women, at times even airbrushing them to appear as if they are wearing bikinis. Indian parliamentarian Priyanka Chaturvedi filed a formal complaint about these violations that led the authorities to take a closer look.
Elon Musk’s X will have to respond to the directive within 72 hours, with a report laying out actions taken in–detail provided. This report must detail all the actions taken to ensure that no content that is known to be unlawful is hosted or distributed. Non-adherence with these specificities may expose Companies to grave liabilities under India’s IT legislation and Criminal Code.
“It is reiterated that non-compliance with the above requirements shall be viewed seriously and may result in strict legal consequences against your platform, its responsible officers and the users on the platform who violate the law, without any further notice,” – The Indian IT ministry.
India’s IT ministry followed suit with an order shortly thereafter adding to an earlier, more general advisory for social media platforms. The advisory served to remind these platforms of their obligation—as intermediaries—to abide by local laws prohibiting obscene and sexually explicit content. Fulfilling these compliance requirements is key for platforms to maintain their legal immunity from liability for content published by their users.
India’s moves are an indication that fears over the unmitigated power of AI are reaching a global crescendo. They’re doing this while simultaneously stoking panic around the spread of dangerous content online. These aren’t just issues confronting the U.S. government. India’s approach may help to influence how countries—and by extension—how regulatory bodies approach works created using generative AI.
The call for stricter control over AI-generated content highlights the balance that must be struck between technological innovation and societal standards. As platforms like X grow larger and become even more embedded in communication, their duty to protect users from dangerous content grows more important by the day.