A Turkish court has blocked access to Grok, an artificial intelligence developed by Elon Musk's xAI company, in accordance with local law over offensive statements about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and religious values, Politico reported. Grok, integrated into Platform X, has also faced criticism in Poland for offensive comments against Prime Minister Donald Tusk and other politicians.
The Turkish Criminal Court in Ankara has decided to block access to Grok after the main prosecutor's office opened an investigation into "insults against Atatürk, our esteemed President and Prophet", it said in a statement. Under Turkish law, such insults are punishable by up to four years in prison. Authorities identified some 50 posts by Grok that were deemed a threat to public order and ordered their removal.
The ban was implemented by the Turkish Information and Communications Technology Authority (BTK) and concerns internet service providers. Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu said that a total ban on access to the Grok had not yet been introduced, but could be if the situation persisted.
News of the ban quickly spread on Turkey's X platform, where users shared memes of bots being arrested by police or portrayed Grok as part of the opposition to Erdogan's government. Platform X's legal counsel in Turkey, Gönenç Gürkaynak, on the platform noted that he never anticipated having to defend Grok from prosecution.
Grok is also facing problems in Poland, where he has generated offensive comments about Prime Minister Donald Tusk, calling him a "traitor" and a "lone wolf", among other things. Poland's digital minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said Poland would report Grok's behaviour to the European Commission for possible violations of hate speech laws. "Freedom of speech belongs to the people, not to artificial intelligence," Gawkowski told RMF 24 radio.Poland is also considering the possible closure of Platform X if further violations are found.
The controversies surrounding Grok are not new. In recent days, he has faced criticism for anti-Semitic posts and praising Adolf Hitler, leading to the swift removal of those posts after complaints from X users and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In May, Grok was criticized for replies regarding theories of "white genocide" in South Africa. The xAI said it is actively working to remove inappropriate content and is putting measures in place to curb hate speech before it is posted on the X platform.
Elon Musk a month ago promised an update on Groka, saying that "there is too much garbage in all the base models trained on uncorrected data". However, this update seems to have led to even more controversy, as Grok started producing "politically incorrect" and unfiltered responses.
Turkey's ban on Grok is the first time the country has imposed censorship on artificial intelligence, which a cyber law expert says Yamana Akdeniz sets a precedent for future regulation of AI-generated content. In recent years, Turkey has stepped up oversight of digital platforms, including social networks and streaming services, which critics see as a tool to stifle dissent.
In Poland, Gawkowski stressed the need to regulate AI to prevent the spread of hate speech and misinformation. These events point to growing global concerns about hate speech and factual inaccuracies in AI, which have already emerged following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022.
The future of Grok and similar technologies is likely to depend on the ability of developers to adapt to the strict legal frameworks of different countries.
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