PARIS (AP) 鈥� France鈥檚 government is taking action against billionaire ‘s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok after it generated French-language posts that questioned the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz, officials said.
Grok, built by Musk’s company xAI and integrated into his social media platform X, wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the death camp were designed for 鈥渄isinfection with Zyklon B against typhus鈥� rather than for mass murder 鈥� language long associated with Holocaust denial.
The Auschwitz Memorial highlighted the exchange on X, saying that the response distorted historical fact and violated the platform鈥檚 rules.
In later posts on its X account, the chatbot acknowledged that its earlier reply to an X user was wrong, said it had been deleted and pointed to historical evidence that Auschwitz鈥檚 gas chambers using Zyklon B were used to murder more than 1 million people. The follow-ups were not accompanied by any clarification from X.
In tests run by The Associated Press on Friday, its responses to questions about Auschwitz appeared to give historically accurate information.
Grok has a history of making antisemitic comments. Earlier this year, Musk鈥檚 company took down posts from the chatbot that appeared to praise Adolf Hitler after .
The Paris prosecutor鈥檚 office confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday that the Holocaust-denial comments have been added to an existing cybercrime investigation into X. The case was opened earlier this year after French officials raised concerns that the platform鈥檚 algorithm could be used for foreign interference.
Prosecutors said that Grok鈥檚 remarks are now part of the investigation, and that 鈥渢he functioning of the AI will be examined.鈥�
France has one of Europe鈥檚 toughest Holocaust denial laws. Contesting the reality or genocidal nature of Nazi crimes can be prosecuted as a crime, alongside other forms of incitement to racial hatred.
Several French ministers, including Industry Minister Roland Lescure, have also reported Grok鈥檚 posts to the Paris prosecutor under a provision that requires public officials to flag possible crimes. In a government statement, they described the AI-generated content as 鈥渕anifestly illicit,鈥� saying it could amount to racially motivated defamation and the denial of crimes against humanity.
French authorities referred the posts to a national police platform for illegal online content and alerted France鈥檚 digital regulator over suspected breaches of the European Union鈥檚 Digital Services Act.
The case adds to pressure from Brussels. This week, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said that the bloc is in contact with X about Grok and called some of the chatbot鈥檚 output 鈥渁ppalling,鈥� saying it runs against Europe鈥檚 fundamental rights and values.
Two French rights groups, the Ligue des droits de l鈥橦omme and SOS Racisme, have filed a criminal complaint accusing Grok and X of contesting crimes against humanity.
X and its AI unit, xAI, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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