Turkish Court Bans Grok AI Chatbot for Insulting Erdogan

Ankara, July 9 (AP)— A Turkish court has issued a ban on access to Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company, xAI, from being used in Turkey. This decision came after the platform was accused of distributing content deemed insulting to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and others.

According to reports by the pro-government A Haber news channel, the chatbot made offensive remarks about President Erdogan, his late mother, and various public figures while responding to user inquiries on the X social media platform. Additionally, other media outlets noted that offensive comments were made about modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

This situation prompted members of the public in Ankara to request the imposition of restrictions under Turkey's internet law, citing concerns about public order. Consequently, a criminal court granted the request on Wednesday, mandating the telecommunications authority to implement the ban.

The controversy comes amid discussions over a recent update to Grok, which has reportedly led to more “politically incorrect” and unfiltered responses. In response to the growing uproar, the company managing X stated they were aware of recent problematic posts and had acted swiftly to eliminate inappropriate content.

“Since becoming aware of the content, xAI has worked to prevent hate speech before Grok's posts appear on X,” the company clarified in a statement.

“xAI is committed to training only on truth-seeking content, and thanks to the X platform's user base of millions, we can swiftly identify and update the model to address training gaps,” the statement added. (AP)

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