By THOMAS ADAMSON, Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — France’s government is taking action against billionaire Elon Musk ‘s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok after it generated French-language posts that questioned the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz, officials said.

Grok, built by Musk’s company xAI and integrated into his social media platform X, wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial.

The Auschwitz Memorial highlighted the exchange on X, saying that the response distorted historical fact and violated the platform’s rules.

In later posts on its X account, the chatbot acknowledged that its earlier reply to an X user was wrong, said it had been deleted and pointed to historical evidence that Auschwitz’s gas chambers using Zyklon B were used to murder more than 1 million people. The follow-ups were not accompanied by any clarification from X.

In tests run by The Associated Press on Friday, its responses to questions about Auschwitz appeared to give historically accurate information.

Grok has a history of making antisemitic comments. Earlier this year, Musk’s company took down posts from the chatbot that appeared to praise Adolf Hitler after complaints about antisemitic content.

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday that the Holocaust-denial comments have been added to an existing cybercrime investigation into X. The case was opened earlier this year after French officials raised concerns that the platform’s algorithm could be used for foreign interference.

Prosecutors said that Grok’s remarks are now part of the investigation, and that “the functioning of the AI will be examined.”

France has one of Europe’s toughest Holocaust denial laws. Contesting the reality or genocidal nature of Nazi crimes can be prosecuted as a crime, alongside other forms of incitement to racial hatred.

Several French ministers, including Industry Minister Roland Lescure, have also reported Grok’s posts to the Paris prosecutor under a provision that requires public officials to flag possible crimes. In a government statement, they described the AI-generated content as “manifestly illicit,” saying it could amount to racially motivated defamation and the denial of crimes against humanity.

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French authorities referred the posts to a national police platform for illegal online content and alerted France’s digital regulator over suspected breaches of the European Union’s Digital Services Act.

The case adds to pressure from Brussels. This week, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said that the bloc is in contact with X about Grok and called some of the chatbot’s output “appalling,” saying it runs against Europe’s fundamental rights and values.

Two French rights groups, the Ligue des droits de l’Homme and SOS Racisme, have filed a criminal complaint accusing Grok and X of contesting crimes against humanity.

X and its AI unit, xAI, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

By SETH BORENSTEIN, MELINA WALLING and ANTON L. DELGADO, Associated Press

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Several nations and environmental groups on Friday slammed proposals in the final stages of this year’s U.N. climate talks for failing to explicitly mention the cause of global warming — the burning of fuels such as oil, gas and coal — with one top negotiator warning the talks are on “the verge of collapse.”

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Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, a top negotiator for Panama, said the decades-long United Nations process risks “becoming a clown show” for the omission. His nation was among 36 to object to a proposal drafted by conference president André Corrêa do Lago of host Brazil.

Do Lago countered by telling negotiators he thought the negotiators “are very close” to doing what they set out to do when they started meeting a week ago.

The Brazilian proposals came on what was supposed to be the last day of the talks, and on the heels of a fire on Thursday that briefly spread through pavilions of the conference known as COP30 on the edge of the Amazon. Thirteen people were treated for smoke inhalation. Though no one was seriously hurt, the fire meant a largely lost day for the talks and increased the likelihood they would sprawl into the weekend, as they frequently do.

Agreements at these talks are officially reached when no nation objects, and typically require many rounds of negotiations. In practice, the proceedings can end with agreements adopted and the presidency adjourning the meeting after noting any objections.

Cold reception from many for proposals

“After 10 years, this process is still failing,” said Maina Vakafua Talia, minister of environment for the small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. “The Pacific came to COP30 demanding a survival road map away from fossil fuels. Yet the current draft texts that came out (do) not even name the main threat for our very survival and existence.”

When do Lago convened Friday’s plenary meeting to discuss the texts, he recapped the world’s climate problems, including the United States’ pullout of climate-fighting efforts under President Donald Trump, as well as an increase in costly and deadly extreme weather.

“The world is watching us,” do Lago said. For the world to make progress, he said, acting “all together is the formula for us to reach what we really need to do.”

A key text among host Brazil’s proposals — called the mutirao decision, for an Indigenous term that means to act together — deals with four difficult issues. They include financial aid for vulnerable countries hit hardest by climate change and getting countries to toughen up their national plans to reduce Earth-warming emissions.

Then there’s the dispute over whether to create a detailed road map for the world to phase out the fossil fuels that are largely driving Earth’s increasing extreme weather. Any such plan would expand on a single sentence — to “transition away” from fossil fuels — that was agreed upon two years ago at the climate talks in Dubai. But no timetable or process was spelled out for that, and powerful oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia and Russia oppose it.

More than 80 nations have called for stronger direction and Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also pushed for it earlier this month.

“Failing to name the causes of the climate crisis is not compromise, it is denial. It is criminal,” Panama’s Monterrey Gomez said.

Tackling fossil fuels

On phasing out fossil fuels, the mutirao decision says that it “acknowledges that the global transition towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development is irreversible and the trend of the future.”

The text “also acknowledges that the Paris Agreement is working and resolves to go further and faster,” referring to the 2015 climate talks that established the goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to the mid-1800s. A key issue is that the 119 national emissions curbing plans submitted this year don’t come near close to limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.

Even though the text didn’t address a fossil fuel transition road map, it could eventually end in a vaguely worded section about a plan for the next couple years in a separate road map.

The 36 nations who thought the text didn’t go far enough included wealthy ones such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany along with smaller climate vulnerable islands Palau, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu. They said the proposal doesn’t meet “the minimum conditions required for a credible COP outcome.”

“We cannot support an outcome that does not include a road map for implementing a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels,” it added. “This expectation is shared by a vast majority of parties, as well as by science and by the people who are watching our work closely.”

Do Lago said his presidency is open to compromise and further discussion.

“We cannot be divided inside the Paris accord,” do Lago said, in remarks that drew only scattered cheers and applause from delegates. “We can only strengthen the Paris accord if we have consensus in Belem. Let’s not stress the divide now in the moments we have left.”

Activists were just as unhappy.

“Hopes were raised by initial proposals for road maps both to end deforestation and fossil fuels, but these road maps have disappeared,” Greenpeace climate policy expert Tracy Carty said. “We’re again lost without a map to 1.5°C and fumbling our way in the dark while time is running out.”

David Waskow of the World Resources Institute said that it was clear the COP presidency was “trying to push this to conclusion as fast as they can.”

Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

This story was produced as part of the 2025 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.

Mounds View/Irondale junior forward Sarah Johnson possesses a unique skill set that allows her to pick apart defenses.

That’s been quite evident through six games. Johnson has 13 goals and seven assists. After the team totaled four total wins a year ago, MVI is 5-0-1.

Head coach Sami Miller said the team is “feeding off what Sarah is doing,” and she is elevating the entire roster’s level of play.

“Yeah, the points she’s putting up are out of this world, especially with the amount of attention she gets,” Miller said. “… 
It’s not easy to be able to score and assist the way she does, with the amount of pressure she has on her from other teams.”

Miller said the pieces of Johnson’s game that jump out on the ice are her puck possession, size and speed. It’s a combination of skills, Miller said, that she has never seen from a girl of Johnson’s age during her time playing or coaching hockey.

Johnson led MVI in goals(16) and assists(17) in her sophomore season. Johnson said she had a harder time dealing with the pressure opponents put on her last year, so improving her mental game has led to increased production.

“It’s helping me to read the ice better,” Johnson said. “I’m predicting or anticipating what plays I want to make a little more in advance.”

Miller echoed Johnson’s sentiments, complimenting her advanced hockey IQ and ability to deal with sometimes seeing three or four defenders.

Johnson also stepped up her leadership role for MVI this season, as she was named a captain. Her maturity shone through when she was asked about her hot start to the season.

“I turn it back on my teammates,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’ve had so much good support, and like, everyone’s making the smart play, and I feel like I have a lot of like passing options.”

MVI is benefitting from only graduating three seniors from last season’s squad. Miller said the roster continuity has allowed the team to acclimate to the varsity pace and craft chemistry on the ice.

Johnson said the relationships they have built off the ice have led to MVI’s strong play to open the season.

“I feel like it’s now finally reflecting onto the ice,” Johnson said. “I can trust passing to people. I can trust in my teammates.”

The focus on team culture over the offseason, and Johnson’s sensational start, has MVI aiming higher this season. Miller said her squad has proven itself, and she does not want to put a ceiling on how far this team can go.

“I don’t think a conference championship or anything like that would be out of the question,” Miller said. “I think that’s something that we could strive towards at this point.”

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By PATRICK AFTOORA-ORSAGOS and JULIE CARR SMYTH, Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio officer who shot and killed a pregnant Black mother in a supermarket parking lot after she was accused of shoplifting has been acquitted of all charges, including murder.

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Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb could have faced up to life in prison.

The Blendon Township police officer had pleaded not guilty to murder, involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the death of 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young. Bodycam recordings showed Young refusing to exit her car and then turning her steering wheel to the right, before her car began slowly rolling forward against the body of Grubb, who fired one shot into her chest through the windshield.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young, no relation to Ta’Kiya, dropped four of 10 counts relating to the death of Young’s unborn daughter, agreeing with defense attorneys that prosecutors failed to present proof that Grubb knew Young was pregnant when he shot her.

Jurors were shown the bodycam video on the first day of the two-week trial, and heard testimony from a use-of-force expert, an accident reconstructionist, a police policy expert and Sgt. Erick Moynihan, the officer who with Grubb had ordered Young out of her car.

They never heard from Grubb, whose side of the story was contained in a written statement read into the record by a special agent for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He attended the trial, but prosecutors were unable to question him directly.

FILE – Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb listens while appearing via video from jail for his arraignment hearing, Aug. 14, 2024, at the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus. (AP Photo/David Dermer, File)

Grubb and Moynihan had approached Young’s parked car on Aug. 24, 2023, about a report that she was suspected of stealing alcohol from a Kroger store in the Columbus suburb. She partially lowered her window and protested as both officers cursed at her and yelled at her to get out. Bodycam video showed Grubb had his left hand on the car’s hood while pointing his gun at her with his right. Young could be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?”

Then, she put on a turn signal and her car rolled slowly forward toward Grubb, who fired a single bullet into her chest, the recording showed.

In the statement, Grubb said he had positioned himself in front of Young’s vehicle to provide backup and to protect other people in the parking lot. He said he drew his gun after he heard Young fail to comply with Moynihan’s commands. When she her car moved toward him, he said, he felt the vehicle hit his legs and shins and begin to lift his body off the ground as he shot.

Moments later, after the car came to a stop against the building, they broke the driver’s side window. Police said they tried to save her life, but she was mortally wounded. Young and her unborn daughter were pronounced dead at a hospital.

A full-time officer with the township since 2019, Grubb was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.

Young had two young sons, ages 8 and 5, who are being raised by Ta’Kiya’s grandmother, Nadine Young. Attorney Sean Walton, representing her family, told the AP shortly after the shooting that Young had not stolen anything. He said his law firm found a witness who saw Young put down bottles of alcohol as she left the grocery store.

“The bottles were left in the store,” Walton said. “So when she’s in her car denying that, that’s accurate. She did not commit any theft, and so these officers were not even within their right to place her under arrest, let alone take her life.”