Shiv Sena’s (UBT) Priyanka Chaturvedi flags ‘Serious AI Misuse’, writes to Ashwini Vaishnaw over Grok controversy

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has urged the Centre to act against the misuse of AI tools like Grok on X to target and sexualise women’s photos.

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has written to Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, urging the Centre to regulate the “gross misuse” of artificial intelligence (AI) tools on social media sites, including Grok, an AI chatbot on X. She alleged that such a function is being used to upload women’s pictures without their consent and send prompts to Grok to minimise their clothing and generate sexualised images.

In her letter, Chaturvedi, citing examples of men creating fake social media profiles to post women’s pictures and ask Grok to generate sexualised imagery, said that this trend is “deeply disturbing” and amounts to a violation of women’s privacy and dignity.

“It is not only limited to sharing photos through fake accounts but is also being used against women who share their own photos,” she wrote in her letter to Vaishnaw. “The government must take cognizance of the use of this AI function and immediately intervene to protect women’s rights and dignity on social media.”

Terming the unsanctioned use of women’s photos as “highly objectionable” and possibly a criminal act, the Sena MP urged the Centre to hold both technology companies and social media platforms responsible for the misuse of AI features on their platforms.

Chaturvedi also said there are growing concerns that such AI functions could be used to post deepfake content and target women on social media platforms, silencing and pushing them out of public digital spaces if the trend is allowed to continue unchecked. “The country cannot be a mute spectator to the use of technology to demean and marginalise women online,” she wrote.

The MP also raised the need for stronger AI safety guardrails. In a statement she said, “AI safety guardrails must be in place so that features cannot be misused to post such content,” adding that both the government and tech companies must engage on these issues urgently.

The MP’s letter is the latest in a series of ongoing debates around the use of artificial intelligence and deepfake technology, particularly when it comes to consent and the use of personal images, which has become a subject of global discussion. Activists and experts have also been calling for stricter rules and enforcement to prevent the misuse of AI functions and features.

Chaturvedi’s intervention is also in line with other recent legal actions and political discussions on the issue in India.