Elon Musk's Grok chatbot has been prohibited by 25% of businesses in Europe.

      According to new research by cybersecurity firm Netskope, a quarter of European organizations have prohibited Elon Musk’s generative AI chatbot Grok. In contrast, the widely-used AI application ChatGPT is blocked by only 9.8% of organizations in Europe, while Google's Gemini follows closely with a 9.2% ban rate.

      Grok has faced scrutiny recently due to a series of errors, including disseminating false information about a “white genocide” in South Africa and casting doubt on Holocaust facts. These incidents have raised alarms regarding Grok’s security and privacy measures, leading to its frequent replacement by “more secure or better-aligned alternatives,” as mentioned in the report.

      Neil Thacker, Netskope’s global privacy and data protection officer, stated that these bans highlight a larger trend in the usage of popular GenAI tools among European organizations. “Businesses are becoming aware that not all apps manage data privacy, data ownership shared with the app, or the transparency of their model training processes in the same way,” he remarked.

      GenAI has seen widespread adoption across Europe, with 91% of organizations incorporating cloud-based chatbots into their workflows, according to the report. However, not all tools are equally accepted. Stable Diffusion, the image generator from UK-based Stability AI, is the most blocked AI application in Europe, restricted by 41% of organizations, often due to privacy and licensing concerns.

      Gianpietro Cutolo, a cloud threat researcher at Netskope, noted that organizations are becoming more aware of the risks associated with specific AI bots. “They’re realizing that not all AI solutions offer the same level of data security,” he said.

      The increasing rejection of Grok coincides with a series of challenges within Musk’s businesses, including significant declines in Tesla's sales in Europe, which fell by 52% year-on-year last month. Some analysts have attributed this drop to Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration and his public support for far-right politicians. This negative reputation may also be impacting Grok, which Musk previously referred to as the ultimate “truth-seeking AI.”

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