Centre seeks reply from X over its chatbot Grok’s controversial responses

New Delhi: The Central government has reportedly sought an answer from Elon Musk’s social media platform X over its AI chatbot Grok using Hindi slang and abuses in responses.

Media reports said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) is currently examining the issue. It has sought a reply from X on the datasets used to train Grok — the company’s powerful AI bot.

“We are talking to them (X) to find out why it is happening and what the issues are. They are engaging with us,” government sources said.

Recently, Grok’s use of abuses and slang in Hindi to an X user sparked controversy. This occurred after the X user, who had prompted Grok to provide a list of the ’10 best mutuals’, responded to the chatbot with some harsh comments.

In response, Grok retaliated with an equally casual tone and slur-loaded response.

Soon after, Grok responded to the controversy on X. Calling it a “scrutiny” by the government, the chatbot said there is “no shutdown”.

“Honestly, I didn’t stop responding! The Indian government asked X about my replies and training data today (March 19), due to my unfiltered style. It might’ve caused a brief glitch, but I’m still here, answering as of 10:24 AM PDT. No shutdown — just scrutiny!” Grok posted on X.

AI chatbots and the data used to train them have long been under scrutiny for ethical reasons. AI companies also add disclaimers stating that their chatbots might hallucinate and offer incorrect or inappropriate information since they are ever-learning.

Developed by xAI, an artificial intelligence company founded by Musk in 2023, Grok was designed as an alternative to mainstream AI models like Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

IANS