Gov’t shuts down PH access to Grok, xAI

If the government wants it, officials can act within 24 hours following an announcement that something is not right with the way things are.

For instance, Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbox, was blocked within 24 hours following the official discovery of violations — such as misuse and generation of non-consensual sexually explicit images.

This is a far cry from the way Malacanang is handling the investigation by the government agencies of the billion-peso flood control scandal that crippled the economy and continues to be a source of embarrassment for the nation.

The blocking of Grok access was announced by Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda on Friday.

Aguda said on Thursday that the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) are already working on blocking the AI chatbot.

The DICT chief, however, said that xAI has already reached out to him “setting a meeting with me and NTC and CICC to provide a potential solution way forward.”

Aguda said that while Grok is currently blocked in the country, the DICT is open to lifting the prohibition immediately.

He said xAi is proposing corrective measures to ensure that women and children are protected from online sexual abuse or exploitation.

The NTC, through a memorandum circular and in coordination with the CICC, ordered all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to immediately block Grok.

In a separate statement, the CICC said the action was in accordance with Republic Act 10175 or Cybercrime Prevention Act in a bid to “prevent the abuse of the tool and to safeguard the public from being exploited by its ability to manipulate content, produce sexually explicit materials, and generate deep fakes of real individuals without their consent.”

The CICC further said that the Cybercrime Prevention Act provides that individuals convicted of “cybersex” offenses to face imprisonment from six to twelve years, along with fines ranging from to P200,000 to P1,000,000.

Moreover, those found guilty of child pornography offenses may face 12 years up to life imprisonment, with fines ranging from P500,000 to over P5,000,000.

The Philippines is the third country in the world to block Grok, following Malaysia and Indonesia over issues of misuse and sexually explicit generated content.

The xAI said late on Wednesday it imposed restrictions on all users of its Grok AI chatbot that limit image editing.

Grok last week began allowing only paying subscribers to use its image generation and editing features.