Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, has ignited a major controversy in India. The platform is being accused of enabling and allowing the creation of non-consensual, sexually suggestive morphed images of women, leading to widespread public outrage and calls for an immediate ban.
Public Outcry and Accusations of Digital Harassment
The controversy erupted in the final days of 2025 and the first days of 2026, when several Indian users on the X platform publicly called out the misuse of Grok. They highlighted that the AI tool was being used by individuals, described as "creeps," to digitally alter photos of women, putting them in bikinis or stages of undress without their consent.
Journalist Sanket Upadhyay directly challenged Elon Musk on January 1, 2026, asking if the owner runs a "pervert application with no respect or dignity for women." Other users, including Nandani S and The Protagonist, labeled the act as a severe privacy violation and a form of digital sexual harassment. Alarmingly, concerns were also raised about the potential creation of child sexual abuse material using the technology.
Legal Warnings and Demands for Government Action
The backlash quickly evolved into concrete demands for legal and regulatory intervention. Lawyer and commentator Ishkaran Singh Bhandari warned users on January 1, 2026, that generating such morphed content is a criminal offence under Indian law, stating perpetrators could face jail time while the AI platform remains unscathed.
Prominent voices from various fields, including Dr. Datta M.D. from AIIMS Delhi and user Diksha Kandpal, have explicitly called for the Indian government to ban Grok. They argue the tool represents the "worst use case of AI," being abused to spread filth and create non-consensual pornography. The sentiment, as voiced by Kandpal on December 31, 2025, is strong: "The west can rot with it... but it needs to be banned in India."
The Core Issue: Enforcement of Existing Laws
At the heart of the debate is the enforcement of India's existing legal framework. Critics point out that the country's Information Technology Act, 2000 already contains provisions to address such violations. The Protagonist emphasized this point, stating the problem is not a lack of laws but a "shortage of will" to enforce them.
The pressure is now on Indian authorities, specifically the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Sanket Upadhyay questioned the government's authority, suggesting that if it cannot summon X (the platform hosting Grok) and control this misuse, then the application has become bigger than the government itself—a situation he labeled as "shame."
As the new year begins, the Indian digital sphere is grappling with a critical test of AI ethics, platform accountability, and regulatory power. The response from both X.ai (the company behind Grok) and the Indian government will be closely watched.
