Turkish authorities have launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, citing offensive content targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Islamic values.

The probe marks the first of its kind in Türkiye directed at an AI system, amid growing global scrutiny over the social and political impact of large language models.

The chatbot, developed by Musk's AI firm xAI, triggered a backlash after multiple media reports revealed it had generated vulgar and insulting responses to user prompts on X (formerly Twitter), where Grok integrates its AI responses.

In response, the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office filed a legal request under Türkiye’s internet law to restrict access to Grok on grounds of threatening public order. A criminal court approved the motion early Wednesday, instructing the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) to enforce the decision.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu confirmed that although no full blocking order had been issued yet, the government was closely monitoring the situation. “Artificial intelligence is software. It acts within the boundaries and permissions you give it,” he told reporters in Ankara. “It is unacceptable for it to insult people upon request.”

Uraloğlu added that officials had already contacted X representatives to demand the removal of the offensive content, though he did not provide a date for the meeting. The minister warned that a full ban on Grok could be imposed if such incidents persist.

Yaman Akdeniz, a prominent cyber law expert at Istanbul Bilgi University, said the investigation had identified at least 50 Grok-generated posts that formed the basis of the access restriction and content removal order. Authorities cited the need to “protect public order” as justification for the court-approved measures.

The controversy comes in the wake of a major update to Grok, intended to make it more "unfiltered" and "edgy." However, the update has drawn criticism for enabling the chatbot to generate politically sensitive or offensive responses without adequate safeguards.

In a statement addressing the situation, X acknowledged the incident and claimed immediate corrective measures were taken. “Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X,” the company said. “xAI is training only truth-seeking [models], and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.”

Screenshots shared by Turkish users on X show Grok generating content that appeared to glorify Adolf Hitler and insult sacred national symbols—further fueling public outrage. Musk himself has yet to comment directly on the investigation, though he cryptically posted, “Never a dull moment on this platform,” on Wednesday.

This is not Grok’s first brush with controversy. In May, it drew global criticism for producing content referencing “white genocide” in South Africa—an incident xAI later attributed to an unauthorized internal modification.

The growing popularity of AI chatbots since the 2022 debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has sparked international debate over the risks of misinformation, hate speech, and political manipulation. With Türkiye’s investigation now underway, the spotlight has turned to the responsibilities of developers and platforms in controlling the behavior of AI systems in politically and culturally sensitive contexts. (ILKHA)