Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday asked Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to ensure ‘Grok’ AI is not misused by perverts. Fake accounts are using the AI's powerful features to sexualise women, she said in a letter written to the Union Minister.
Underlining the need to ensure that social media platforms must be made “a safe space for women” the MP said that it cannot be achieved sans preventing the "gross misuse of an AI function." Chaturvedi shared her concerns over the emerging trend on X, where men are using fake accounts to upload photos of women after employing AI prompts to minimise their clothing or sexualise them. Women who upload their photos on platforms are falling victims to this malicious trend and government needs to act, she said.
"Have sought urgent attention and intervention of Hon. IT Minister to take the issue of increasing incidents of AI apps being prompted to sexualise and undress women by unauthorised use of their images on social media. There have to be guardrails put in place by features such as Grok that do not violate women’s dignity, big tech firms need to take the onus. And I wish men indulging in such behaviour were educated better at their homes & schools so as to not become such sick perverts in their adulthood," she wrote while sharing the letter with the public.
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE LETTER:
Respected Vaishnaw ji,
I wanted to bring to your urgent attention and urgent intervention on a new trend that has emerged on social media, especially on X, by misusing their AI Grok feature where men are using fake accounts to post women's photos and pushing out prompts to Grok to minimize their clothing and sexualise them. It is not just limited to sharing photos through fake accounts but are also targeting women who post their own photos. This is unacceptable and gross misuse of an AI function.
What is worse is that Grok is enabling this behavior by adhering to such requests. This is breach of women's right to privacy as well as unauthorized use of their pictures, which is not just unethical but also criminal.
I write to you as an active member of the Standing Committee on IT & Communication, to urge you as a minister to take this up strongly with X to ensure safeguards are built in their AI apps to make the platform a safe space for women. Our country cannot be a bystander to women's dignity being violated publicly and digitally with zero consequences under the garb of creativity and innovation condone such prompts.
We are seeing similar patterns appear even on other big tech platforms that are going absolutely unchecked. As a nation we must take this up on a priority to ensure women are not the victims of such openly criminal practices and further silence and push them out of these platforms.
I look forward to your response and hopefully MeiTY will take this up with big techs that while we welcome AI and its role in making lives easier for the world, we will not allow a proliferation of such demeaning acts towards women.
Thanking you.
Yours Sincerely.
(Priyanka Chaturvedi)