Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi (File photo)
NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has written to IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, urging the government to urgently step in over what she described as a disturbing rise in the misuse of AI tools to sexualise women on social media, particularly on X, owned by Elon Musk.In her letter, Priyanka Chaturvedi called for strict “guardrails” on AI chatbots such as Grok, saying social media platforms must be made “a safe space for women”. She also underlined the need for better education of men from an early age to prevent such behaviour.“Have sought urgent attention and intervention of the IT Minister to take the issue of increasing incidents of AI apps being prompted to sexualise and undress women by unauthorised use of their images on social media,” Chaturvedi said in a post on X.
“There have to be guardrails put in place by features such as Grok that do not violate women’s dignity; big tech firms need to take the onus. And I wish men indulging in such behaviour were educated better at their homes & schools so as to not become such sick perverts in their adulthood,” she added.In the letter shared publicly, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader flagged what she called an emerging trend on X, where men operating fake accounts allegedly upload photos of women and use AI prompts to minimise their clothing or sexualise them. “It is not just limited to sharing photos through fake accounts but are also targeting women who post their own photos,” she wrote.Calling the practice an “unacceptable and gross misuse of an AI function,” Chaturvedi also criticised Grok for “enabling this behaviour by adhering to such requests”.She described such acts as a “breach of women’s right to privacy” and termed them “criminal”, adding that similar instances were “going absolutely unchecked” across other platforms as well.“I write to you as an active member of the Standing Committee on IT & Communication, to urge you as a minister to take this up strongly with X to ensure safeguards are built in their AI apps to make the platform a safe space for women,” she said.“Our country cannot be a bystander to women’s dignity being violated publicly and digitally with zero consequences under the garb of creativity and innovation condone such prompts. While we welcome AI and its role in making lives easier for the world, we will not allow a proliferation of such demeaning acts towards women,” the Rajya Sabha MP added.
