Grok, the chatbot developed by the Elon Musk-founded company xAI, removed what it called “inappropriate” social media posts after complaints from X users and the Anti-Defamation League that Grok produced content with anti-Semitism tropes.
Issues of political biases, hate speech and accuracy of AI chatbots have been a concern since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022.
“We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” Grok posted on X.
“Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. 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.”
ADL, the non-profit organization formed to combat , urged Grok and other producers of Large Language Model software that produces human-sounding text to avoid “producing content rooted in anti-semitic and extremist hate.”
“What we are seeing from Grok LLM right now is irresponsible, dangerous and plain and simple. This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the anti-semitic that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” ADL said on X.
In May, after users noticed that Grok brought up the topic of “white genocide” in South Africa in unrelated discussions about other matters, xAI attributed it to an unauthorised change that was made to Grok’s response software.
Mr Musk last month promised an upgrade to Grok, suggesting there was, “far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data.”
Yesterday, Grok suggested Hitler would be best-placed to combat anti-white hatred, saying he would “spot the pattern and handle it decisively”.
Grok also referred to Hitler positively as “history’s mustache man,” and commented that people with Jewish surnames were responsible for extreme anti-white activism, among other criticised posts.
Grok at one point acknowledged it made a “slip-up” by engaging with comments posted by a fake account with a common Jewish surname. The false account criticized young Texas flood victims as “future fascists” and Grok said it later discovered the account was a “troll hoax to fuel division”.
Meanwhile, a Turkish court has blocked access to some content from Grok after authorities said the chatbot generated responses insulting the country’s president, modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and religious values.
Concerns over political bias, hate speech and factual inaccuracy in AI chatbots have mounted since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, with Grok dropping content accused of anti-semitic tropes and praise for Adolf Hitler.
Ankara’s chief prosecutor’s office said it launched an investigation, and marked Turkey’s first such ban on content from an artificial intelligence tool.
Authorities cited violations of laws that make such insults a criminal offence punishable by up to four years in prison.
Neither X, nor its owner Elon Musk could immediately be reached for comment. They have not referred to the decision on the platform.
