Poland plans to report Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, to the European Commission after its chatbot Grok posted vulgar and offensive comments about Polish politicians, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on the social media platform X.
Quite a few of the chatbot’s descriptions of Tusk are unfit to be quoted, but among other insults, Grok called him an “EU puppetmaster.” It also made degrading remarks about his wife.
The offensive content followed a weekend update to Grok instructing it to “not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect.” In several instances, the chatbot also posted antisemitic remarks and praised Adolf Hitler, prompting international backlash.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski told RMF FM radio that the government will ask Brussels to investigate potential violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). He warned that if necessary, Poland may consider blocking access to X, though no such decision has been made yet. Gawkowski, quoted by Reuters, said,
Freedom of speech belongs to humans, not to artificial intelligence. … We are entering a higher level of hate speech driven by algorithms. Ignoring this today is a mistake that may cost humanity in the future.
Grok’s developer, xAI, in a statement posted on X, the company said it was actively removing “inappropriate” content and working to prevent further violations.
The European Commission, which is already investigating X under the DSA, told Euractiv it takes the risks of generative AI—including chatbots—“very seriously.”
For users of this and other chatbots, the incident may serve as a reminder to keep a discerning mind when trusting the statements of artificial—as well as human—intelligence.
