Dilip Cherian: Grok goes the weasel as Musk’s Tesla comes rolling in

After all, this battle needs to be placed squarely in the realm of geopolitics—and optics. For Trump’s most powerful right-hand man Musk, business must mix messily with politics to allow for enough bones and offal to satisfy the appetite that the two have displayed in the initial months of their rule.

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Remember that Musk, whose microblog platform X is suing the Indian government over free speech, has entered this battle after appearing to bend into submission Indian players that may have been expecting to be speed-breakers on his way to global dominance of communications via markets like India.

Defeats have been publicly visible in the last fortnight—more than of just a minister who had to quickly delete a tweet welcoming Musk to India. Hefty Indian players seem to have conceded the fact that Musk the Dogged Supremo is acting on behalf and at the behest of his friend and supporter in the White House.

The brilliant Shreya Singhal of Shreya Singhal vs Union of India fame may have forecast bits and pieces of the latest legal drama domestically, but not the extent to which it is now playing out between Musk and our own mantri mandal. But even the courts, by now, probably recognize that issues to do with Section 79 (3)(b) or even Section 69A of the IT Act and the elements of an inevitable brouhaha around the Sahyog Portal are all mere distractions. Much like Glasser’s comments on US domestic politics, we are in danger of missing the Trojan Horse.

The speed with which Musk and his team in India have lawyered up seems to suggest that he is more than ready for some high-pitched legal battles ahead. Is this because he considers India a test-bed to ensure that his own version of AI gets to dominate a market that is hungry for such tools? Or is it because testing India with something as advanced as AI may just be a pit-stop before serious stuff happens on trade and tariffs?

Also Read: Nitin Pai: Trump’s tariffs serve political ends even if they lack economic logic

Optically, the legal battle will ensure that the Grok brand gets more national recognition than any other AI chatbot that assists in content creation, research and graphics (way more than his rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is reaping huge benefits from its first-mover advantage). The optics of a ‘battle being fought’ is likely to offer multiple opportunities for airing critical content generated by Grok. In a very short time, Grok wants to get associated with everything in AI, irrespective of whether X wins this first legal skirmish or not.

It is important to remember that this is indeed just a skirmish. The main issue, of course, concerns content moderation, and as a free-speech absolutist, Musk is unlikely to retreat from that position easily. Giving his social media platform a bloody nose may also be inopportune, given what else hangs in the balance at this moment as far as India’s US relations are concerned.

The US administration is an entity over which Musk apparently exerts nanny-level control. Economically, this may well be a battle for India’s own control of digital markets, and yet it also involves issues of foreign investments in this space, which we are still keen on.

But platforms pushing back is not exactly welcomed by the Indian powers that be. They consider it far more than just being impetuous or tone deaf to the needs of policymakers. The response can be harsh, even if kept out of the public domain, and is usually sufficient to stifle the audacity of those attempting to question the regulatory framework set up by those exclusively entitled to take key decisions on behalf of the public. Combining the roles of coach and referee is something that officials are used to doing. But this is unlikely to happen in this particular case. Musk, after all, is that mythical Player One we were taught to dread. And he evidently hates to back down, let alone back off.

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And then there’s the other Trojan Horse possibility. Is Musk’s grouse over Grok just a thinly veiled move to ensure that Tesla gets to slip in quietly, alongside SpaceX’s Starlink, without too much further pressure? This is perhaps Musk’s bigger interest. The pushback he is already facing in the US is hurting him where it matters the most, on the stock market, where his fortunes have sharply declined. While Indian markets are unlikely to be substantial enough to make a difference, unfettered market access and stiff tariff regimes are extended parts of the game that the Duo from DC are currently interested in playing.

Whether it’s about brand X or brand Grok, the legal battle that Musk has embarked on is a building block for the image of a bold and brassy AI tool that he needs in his arsenal. Hubris is high, but remember billions of dollars are behind all this. Our bureaucrats might be skilled at steamrollering opponents, but tackling Musk’s approach will make for testing times.

The author is the founder of Perfect Relations.