On Wednesday 9 July, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, sent a letter to Henna Virkkunen, the Commissioner responsible for technological sovereignty, following the anti-Semitic tropes posted by X’s AI chatbot, which came to light at the weekend.
The Polish minister is asking the Commission “to open an investigation into an alleged breach of the DSA (...) and to take all necessary measures to prevent further abuses of the fundamental rights of EU citizens”.
“There is good reason to believe that the negative effects [of the AI] have not been created by accident, but by design”, says the minister, who points out that the AI has been updated with instructions “not to hesitate to make statements that are politically incorrect”.
Over the weekend, Grok developed conspiracy theories that Jews secretly control the media to spread anti-white hatred, and also called the celebration of the death of Christians “the height of chutzpah” and “the Jewish height”.
X has been under formal investigation since December 2023 for possible breaches of the DSA, including illegal content and disinformation. In July 2024, the Commission issued a preliminary opinion, finding that X was also in breach of the rules on ‘dark patterns’ and advertising transparency (see EUROPE 13452/4).
The Commission says it is taking the problem “very seriously”, but has not gone into detail about the legal measures to be taken. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)