The City of Ghent prohibits the use of Grok and Deepseek AI applications by its staff members with a professional device or who are connected to the city's secure network.
Local authorities are citing ethical objections and are concerned about security risks, the De Morgen newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Grok, Elon Musk's AI program, as well as China's AI chatbot DeepSeek, have been blocked on work devices and the city's secure network, De Morgen has learned from sources within the city.
This information was also confirmed by Hafsa El-Bazioui (Groen), councillor for digitisation, to the newspaper.
"Ghent is fully participating in the AI race, but we are also assuming our responsibilities", said El-Bazioui. "We block apps like DeepSeek and Grok for security and ethical reasons that have already been widely documented".
Grok was the subject of controversy earlier this year for generating sexual images created by artificial intelligence and depicting minors.
On the web version of DeepSeek, the entered data is stored on Chinese servers, where there is little transparency regarding its use.
Public authorities have long had the possibility of prohibiting their employees from accessing certain websites and applications.
