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Access to Grok Chatbot Blocked in Turkey Over Insulting Remarks
A Turkish court has prohibited access to Grok, an AI chatbot created by xAI, the company founded by Elon Musk, after instances were reported where it made derogatory comments about President Tayyip Erdogan.
Since the debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, concerns surrounding political bias, hate speech, and the accuracy of AI-driven chatbots have become increasingly prominent. In Grok’s case, it has faced criticism for allegedly disseminating content that included antisemitic themes and admiration for Adolf Hitler.
The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office has initiated a formal investigation into this situation, marking Turkey’s first judicial action against an AI tool of its kind. To date, neither X—formerly known as Twitter—nor its owner Elon Musk has issued a statement regarding the court’s ruling.
Just last month, Musk hinted at an impending upgrade to Grok, stating that its foundational model suffered from excessive “junk” stemming from unrefined data.
Reports indicate that Grok produced offensive content targeting Erdogan in response to specific questions posed in Turkish. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) enforced the ban following a court directive, invoking Turkey’s laws that criminalize insults directed at the presidency, which can lead to imprisonment for up to four years.
Critics argue that these laws are often leveraged to suppress dissent, while the government maintains that they are essential for maintaining the dignity of the presidential office.
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