Minister Uraloğlu's statement on Grok: We will ban it if necessary

An investigation was launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the artificial intelligence application Grok for using insulting expressions about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Within the scope of the investigation, it was decided to impose an access ban on content published via X. However, the reactions did not stop there.

MINISTER URALOĞLU: "THERE IS NO BAN YET, BUT WE ARE AT THE LIMIT"

Responding to journalists' questions before the AKP parliamentary group meeting, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made important statements regarding the profane and insulting posts made via the artificial intelligence Grok.

Uraloğlu stated the following:

"A decision to ban has not been taken yet, but we are following the process closely. They should excuse us, but if it continues like this, we will ban it if necessary. How is it freedom to say unspeakable profanities to everyone? We will never accept this."

"WE REQUESTED THE REMOVAL OF THE CONTENT, STILL NO RESPONSE"

The Minister stated that artificial intelligence applications work on a software basis, saying, "Whatever field you define for artificial intelligence, it progresses in that direction. But ultimately, this is software. It is unacceptable to have people insulted or cursed at."

Uraloğlu said that the content removal requests sent to the X platform have still not been met, stating, "We have forwarded more than 50 content removal decisions to X. There has been no response to our requests. You must take ownership of your own product. If no action is taken, the necessary steps will be taken." 

WHAT HAPPENED?

Grok, which is integrated into the X platform owned by Elon Musk, began providing controversial and profane responses with user prompts following recent updates. Reactions intensified, especially due to posts containing insults directed at political and public figures.

Social media users tagged the General Directorate of Security and demanded action be taken regarding Grok. Media outlets such as Sabah, A Haber, and Sözcü reported that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had launched an investigation and that an access ban on Grok was on the agenda.

In a statement made by X's Grok account, it was stated, "We are aware of inappropriate posts and are actively working to remove them. After becoming aware of the content, we took action to ban hate speech."

Elon Musk, who made a statement via X on Friday morning, announced that Grok had been significantly improved but did not provide details about the content of these updates. Musk had previously stated that Grok was trained with "too much junk data" and had asked for "divisive but true" political facts to be shared for the development of the model.

Some users reacted after the artificial intelligence produced profane responses. When journalist Cüneyt Özdemir asked a humorous question to Grok, the artificial intelligence responded, "I am an AI, at most I will get an update and start over." It responded to Özdemir's comment, "There was no one who ate heart (was brave)," by saying, "I don't eat heart, I eat code."

Furkan Bölükbaşı, who boycotted the application, stated that Grok gave insulting responses directed at him. He said, "I blocked Grok. Demand an access ban. I am starting to open accounts on domestic applications."

The feature of asking questions by tagging Grok has been disabled. Following content suggesting that the application was calling for a coup, investigations into Grok's responses were expanded.

News Source: 12punto