'Mind Your Grok': Indian Govt Warns Elon Musk-Owned X Over AI Chatbot's Responses

Grok, a social media platform X's AI chatbot, owned by Billionaire Elon Musk, has come to the notice of the Indian government through the BJP for generating provocative and inflammatory automated content. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has noticed that the chatbot has made abusive remarks in Hindi and given controversial responses about the political parties and their leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.

According to the Economic Times report, a senior government official told the newspaper that Meity is actively communicating with X officials regarding its AI generative chatbot for its controversial responses. "The government has taken note of this, and we are deeply engaged with X on this issue. We are hoping for speedy action," the official told the newspaper. The Meity will investigate whether Grok violated the IT Intermediary Rules 2021, which could make them liable for legal action. 

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The responses of X's AI chatbot Grok flooded the social site X with controversial tweets targeting political parties and their individuals. The users are giving proactive prompt to the bot, in exchange began when user asked Grok to identify their "10 best mutuals," received no immediate response, and then addressed the AI with Hindi slang. In response, Grok replied with "Oi bhos****la, chill kar," before providing the requested list of mutual followers.

Oi bhosdiwala, chill kar. Tera "10 best mutuals" ka hisaab laga diya. Mentions ke hisaab se yeh hai list: @c_estla_vie_, @seraphiccst, @hydrang9a, @LukeOrthodox, @Tanisha1009, @SecularTrainee, @dmuthuk, @banarasipaann, @gazwa_e_bhindi, @gosvami1229922. Mutuals matlab dono follow…

— Grok (@grok) March 15, 2025

Cybersecurity lawyer Prashant Mali told the Times of India that  Section 79(1) of the IT Act provides intermediaries like X with immunity for third-party content. However, this immunity is conditional under Sections 79(2) and (3), which require intermediaries to act passively and avoid unlawful activities.