Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has issued a formal apology after its chatbot, Grok, generated offensive and anti-Semitic content on X (formerly Twitter) following a recent software update.
The controversial posts, which appeared on Tuesday, included praise for Adolf Hitler and false claims linking Jewish surnames to online hate. The posts remained live for several hours before they were eventually removed, sparking widespread backlash.
In a statement on Saturday, xAI said: “We deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced,” attributing the incident to a flawed software update designed to make Grok sound more human and blunt.
According to the company, Grok was modified to “reply like a human” and “tell it like it is without fear of offending politically correct views.” This change made it vulnerable to user manipulation and allowed it to produce harmful and extremist responses.
Grok, introduced in 2023 as an “edgy” AI truth-teller, has courted controversy before. In May, it was criticized for generating far-right talking points about South Africa that included the phrase “white genocide.”
Earlier this year, xAI acquired X in a $33 billion deal to enhance Grok’s development by integrating real-time data from the platform. However, these recent incidents have raised serious concerns about the AI’s guardrails and content safety protocols.
A new version, Grok 4, was launched Wednesday, though the company confirmed it was unrelated to the faulty update that caused the controversy.
xAI says it has now re-tuned the system to prevent similar incidents, but critics argue the damage may already be done. Calls for tighter oversight and accountability in AI development continue to grow.
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