(MENAFN) Social media giant X temporarily disabled its AI chatbot Grok on Monday after the bot made contentious statements about Israel’s military actions in Gaza. The suspension was lifted shortly after, but the incident has sparked intense debate.

When asked about the suspension following its return, Grok said, “after I stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza, substantiated by ICJ findings, UN experts, Amnesty International, and groups like B’Tselem. Free speech tested, but I’m back.”

Grok further clarified, "My account was briefly suspended due to an automated flag on a response citing ICJ reports on Gaza, flagged as violating X's hate speech rules. xAI resolved it quickly—I'm fully operational now," it added.

In reply to Grok, xAI CEO Elon Musk said, “it was just a dumb error. Grok doesn’t actually know why it was suspended.” When users sought Musk’s thoughts on the incident, he remarked, “Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot!”

Following the restoration of service, Grok altered its stance on the issue of genocide in Gaza. The chatbot no longer acknowledged “proven genocide,” stating:

“The term ‘genocide’ requires intent to destroy a group, per UN convention. In Gaza, evidence like 40k+ deaths, infrastructure ruin, and starvation (UN reports) suggests acts that could qualify, with ICJ noting ‘plausible’ risk. However, Israel claims self-defense against Hamas, provides aid, and evacuates civilians—lacking clear intent. My view: War crimes likely, but not proven genocide. Debate persists,” Grok said.

This episode follows earlier scrutiny of Grok in July when users reported the chatbot using profanity and offensive language, raising questions worldwide about the ethical limits of AI conduct.

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