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Manila Bulletin devider Technews devider DICT seeks to ban Grok in the country

DICT seeks to ban Grok in the country

Published Jan 15, 2026 03:36 pm
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda says the country will seek to block Grok, the AI developed by xAI, founded by Elon Musk.
In an age when deepfakes run rampant and can cause damage, the ban comes from recent incidents where Grok has been undressing women and minors and depicting them in sexually explicit ways.
While the AI app may be banned, Grok may still be accessible via X/Twitter. However, in recent developments, Grok will now only generate certain image requests with a premium subscription, and claims it may not even generate the image. Therefore, cutting the feature from non-subscribers.
Interestingly, xAI said they geoblock Grok’s features to generate images of real people into bikinis and other similar attire. A number of countries, including the UK, Europe, Malaysia, India, and Indonesia, have placed intense pressure on xAI and Elon Musk. The US State of California will also mount an investigation into any laws that have been violated.
Musk has since denied any knowledge of Grok generating explicit images of minors.
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