Elon Musk caught in scandal over chatbot’s remarks

xAI, the company founded by Elon Musk, announced it is taking steps to remove inappropriate posts from the X platform (formerly Twitter).

The decision came after its AI chatbot, Grok, published a series of antisemitic remarks. The incident sparked widespread condemnation, including from leading human rights organizations.

"We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," read an official statement from Grok's account on X.

It was also noted that since xAI became aware of the content, the company has taken measures to block hate speech before Grok’s responses are published on the platform.

“xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved,” the statement said.

Earlier this year, Elon Musk merged his artificial intelligence company xAI with his social media platform X. On July 4, he announced a significant improvement to Grok, though he did not specify what changes had been made.

“You should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions,” the businessman noted.

Elon Musk's and xAI’s spokesperson, Katie Miller, did not respond to a request for comment. According to reports, some of Grok’s posts included praise for Adolf Hitler and described the Holocaust as efficient.

Response from anti-defamation advocates

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called Grok’s behavior irresponsible, dangerous, and overtly antisemitic.

“This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” the organization stated on X.

Elon Musk, 54, is the world’s richest person and leads five companies, including Tesla Inc. and SpaceX. He has repeatedly faced criticism for promoting conspiracy theories and posting controversial tweets.

Grok is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI. The term grok is a verb meaning to understand intuitively or through empathy, or to establish a connection with.

Grok was created at Musk’s initiative in response to the growing popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It is marketed as a chatbot with a sense of humor and has direct access to Twitter (X).

Controversial Grok

Last weekend, the Grok chatbot was updated, and the program began to more effectively combat Russian propaganda.

In November 2023, Elon Musk published an antisemitic post on the social network X. He accused members of the Jewish community of promoting dialectical hatred against white people.

Following that incident, a number of globally renowned companies suspended their advertising and activity on platform X.