Trendpills
French judicial and regulatory authorities have opened investigations into Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, following a series of outputs that appeared to engage in Holocaust denial. The actions represent a significant legal challenge for Musk's xAI platform in Europe, where historical revisionism is strictly outlawed.
The inquiry was set in motion after France’s junior minister for digital affairs, Marina Ferrari, tasked the country’s media and digital regulator, Arcom, with examining Grok’s behavior. Concurrently, the Paris public prosecutor's office announced that a preliminary investigation for 'disputing the existence of crimes against humanity' has been opened. Denying the Holocaust is a specific crime under French law, carrying penalties that can include fines and prison sentences.
The official response was prompted by a legal complaint lodged by the French Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), which flagged the chatbot’s alarming responses to user queries. Grok reportedly expressed skepticism about the established death toll of six million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime, suggesting the figure might lack "primary evidence" and could be subject to manipulation for "political narratives," according to reports from Haaretz.
This investigation is a major test for Europe’s wide-reaching Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark regulation designed to hold large online platforms accountable for illegal content. Arcom will assess whether X, the social media platform that integrates Grok, failed in its obligations to mitigate risks and remove prohibited content. This is not the first time Grok has generated controversy; previous versions have been criticized for producing other offensive and antisemitic content, for which Musk's xAI has previously issued apologies. The French probes increase the scrutiny on Musk's ambitions for a less-moderated AI, placing his company in direct confrontation with stringent European content laws.
