The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has lifted the ban on xAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok after acknowledging the company’s explanations and corrective actions, the agency said.
The restriction, imposed on Jan. 16, was lifted on Jan. 21 following an inter-agency technical assessment.
The DICT said the review — led by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in coordination with other government offices — examined concerns tied to Grok’s image-generation features.
Authorities noted that the chatbot had previously been associated with the generation of non-consensual, sexually explicit, and manipulated images, prompting regulatory action in other jurisdictions, including Indonesia and Malaysia.
The issues raised implications for digital safety, privacy, and the protection of vulnerable sectors, particularly women and children.
Based on information provided by xAI, the DICT said the immediate misuse issues had been addressed.
The company implemented enhanced safeguards and stricter content-moderation measures to prevent the generation of explicit and non-consensual content, including tighter restrictions on prompts involving real individuals and stronger enforcement of acceptable-use policies.
“Protecting Filipino users remains our paramount concern. At the same time, we support responsible innovation and recognize the role of emerging technologies in national development, provided these technologies operate within the bounds of Philippine law and uphold human dignity,” DICT secretary Henry Aguda said.
“We checked the safeguards that xAI has put in place, and we are satisfied,” CICC deputy executive director Renato Paraiso added.
The DICT said it will continue to monitor xAI’s compliance with its self-policing and regulatory commitments alongside the CICC and NTC, including safeguards against content-related cybercrime offenses under existing legal frameworks.
