Hong Kong – The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) in Hong Kong has warned the public to exercise caution when sharing personal data with AI chatbots, following concerns that the AI chatbot Grok could be misused to generate indecent or malicious content.
In an official statement, the PCPD said the issue of Grok generating indecent or malicious photos and videos has raised concerns in multiple jurisdictions. The body is also concerned about the matter and is “proactively contacting the relevant organisation to understand the situation.”
The PCPD’s warning comes amid similar actions taken by other countries. Last week, the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia temporarily banned the use of Grok after investigations found that the chatbot lacked adequate safeguards to prevent the creation and dissemination of content using personal images.
Amid these concerns, the PCPD reminded the public to exercise caution when providing personal data to AI chatbots and to comply with the requirements of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO) and relevant Data Protection Principles.
The watchdog advised users to avoid sharing personal data arbitrarily, refrain from using AI chatbots for illegal purposes, and review the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use of AI chatbots to understand how personal data is collected, stored, used, and shared.
The PCPD also noted that improper or malicious use of AI chatbots to generate indecent or harmful content could breach the PDPO and may constitute other criminal offences.
Since last year, the PCPD has taken steps to guide safe AI usage. It has published a leaflet entitled “10 Tips for Users of AI Chatbots” and a guidance called “Abuse of AI Deepfakes: Toolkit for Schools and Parents”, aimed at helping users protect their own and others’ personal data.
On January 15, Grok AI introduced new measures for its image creation feature following backlash over content that undressed people or encouraged “remove clothes” requests.
In a statement released via the X Safety account on X (formerly Twitter), the company said it remains committed to safety and “zero tolerance for any form of child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content.”
“We take action to remove high-priority violative content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and non-consensual nudity, taking appropriate action against accounts that violate our X Rules. We also report accounts seeking child sexual exploitation materials to law enforcement authorities as necessary,” the statement added.
