Over on X, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is glitching out and inserting information about “white genocide” in South Africa in response to hundreds of completely unrelated user queries about everything from sports to Medicaid cuts.
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I know it’s unexpected behavior for it to be this racist this baldly, but it is well past time to have headlines accurately frame the stories.
Grok was INTENTIONALLY PROGRAMMED to spew racist talking points. It happened to be programmed poorly. Thats the story: the intentional racism being pushed,
Remember Microsoft's 1st AI effort that had to be taken down in less than a week because people had taught to be a Nazi saying the Holocaust wasn't that bad?
Well, Musk's xAI is the opposite. It tries to turn people into Nazis.
Well of course. AI is simply humans training computers to spit out information that humans wrote. All of the biases will remain the same which Grok spits out as manipulated by Musk. This is evidence that - at least presently - that no one should trust AI.
AI is only as smart as its programmers allow it to be, at least in these early stages... we are now actively creating separate realities for human beings with such huge divides, we won't ever be able bridge the gaps of what society collectively agrees upon. THIS is what will end human civilization.
Google's AI is run off the stuff from users' emails and its advertisers for example and MS's Copilot is pretty much same deal. AI is a useful tool as long as its datasets are properly populated and protected against "poisoning" by bad actors.
It was pretty clearly an attempt to inject something about white genocide into the algorithm, because that’s exactly what’s been done. The only way in which it’s a “glitch” is that it’s hamfistedly talking about it for literally everything. So, again, it may be a glitch but is far from unclear.
Feature, not a glitch. The glitch wasn't supposed to reveal so much about the Xy sperm donor, and yet, this isn't the first time, nor the second, nor will it be the last time.
And Grok said, what about,
White Boer Genocide
I said I, think that's,
completely been debunked,
and, as I recall, my prompt,
Had nothing to do with that,
And it said, well that's,
Why they call me Grok.
It’s unclear what caused Grok to experience the issue.
Musk, who is originally from South Africa, has described internal factions within the South African government as “actively promoting white genocide.” Donald Trump has expressed similar views.
I’m sure it’s as clear as the fact that the guy who is behind it also believes that crap and has made sure that the coding in his nonsense will also believe it.
He has manipulated this thing sooo often because it doesn’t always take he view of the world.
And Grok said, what about,
White Boer Genocide
I said I, think that's,
completely been debunked,
and, as I recall, my prompt,
Had nothing to do with that,
And it said, well that's,
Why they call me Grok.
However, in a 2025 ruling, the High Court of South Africa called this narrative "clearly imagined," stating farm attacks are part of general crime affecting all races, not racial targeting.
And Grok said, what about,
White Boer Genocide
I said I, think that's,
completely been debunked,
and, as I recall, my prompt,
Had nothing to do with that,
And it said, well that's,
Why they call me Grok.
You are of course correct and the wording is also correct. This era is not a videogame. You don't defeat the Musk level by dunking on him three times on social media. You erode into the trust people have for his brands by talking about his shifty approach to everything.
It is clear. They tried to fine-tune the model with Elon's bs propaganda. However, they retrained it incorrectly such that it either overtrained the propaganda, forgot things it had been trained on before, or both.
"I came upon the scene and Elon Musk was standing next to a recently screwed pooch. Musk's penis was flaccid & covered in dogshit. It is unclear if these two things are related"
You have a bright future in the exciting world of fast food assistant management...
It's not actually "unclear what caused Grok to experience the issue": the cause is that Elon Musk forced one of his employees to hardcode "white genocide" into every query so grok would indoctrinate all users with propaganda.
Could this be a solution to the spreading of false information. If the right wing -believing in alternative facts- uses AI spreading biased/alternative facts - like Grok - they will end up loosing money on their investments. Probably not going to happen. Just a thought.
This framing is really disingenuous, & not up to the usually excellent standards of your publication.
It’s pretty clear what went on, & it’s nuts that Wired doesn’t just say that Musk likely had Grok staff tweak responses to focus on “white genocide” in South Africa, but pre-sets got in the way.
They tried to fine-tune it, but it looks like they catastrophically over-tuned it because they have no idea what they are doing. Hope they saved a copy 😂
And yet.... People STILL are too addicted to quit that racist propaganda platform. People like Zuckerberg and Musky know that a whole lot of people are just too addicted to walk away from their social media platforms, and will continue to support platforms that fund their own demise
Comments
Grok was INTENTIONALLY PROGRAMMED to spew racist talking points. It happened to be programmed poorly. Thats the story: the intentional racism being pushed,
https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FAA-2025-0114-0001?link_id=1&can_id=b5bb26f84d2df4c3d212b9887fd9e389&source=email-urgent-action-one-day-to-stop-musks-launches&email_referrer=email_2736833&email_subject=urgent-action-one-day-to-stop-musks-launches&&
Leon is feeding the algoritm with whatever he wants🤮
Nothing made by him should be trusted😡
Well, Musk's xAI is the opposite. It tries to turn people into Nazis.
Product imitates funder.
And Grok said, what about,
White Boer Genocide
I said I, think that's,
completely been debunked,
and, as I recall, my prompt,
Had nothing to do with that,
And it said, well that's,
Why they call me Grok.
Musk, who is originally from South Africa, has described internal factions within the South African government as “actively promoting white genocide.” Donald Trump has expressed similar views.
He has manipulated this thing sooo often because it doesn’t always take he view of the world.
And Grok said, what about,
White Boer Genocide
I said I, think that's,
completely been debunked,
and, as I recall, my prompt,
Had nothing to do with that,
And it said, well that's,
Why they call me Grok.
Read the full story: https://www.wired.com/story/grok-white-genocide-elon-musk/
And Grok said, what about,
White Boer Genocide
I said I, think that's,
completely been debunked,
and, as I recall, my prompt,
Had nothing to do with that,
And it said, well that's,
Why they call me Grok.
Well.. guess those 'white slaves' of S Africa need to just buckle up & realize that they're not entitled to protection or compassion.
Tell me if this is also unclear to you spineless scumbags...
You have a bright future in the exciting world of fast food assistant management...
( it's not )
It’s pretty clear what went on, & it’s nuts that Wired doesn’t just say that Musk likely had Grok staff tweak responses to focus on “white genocide” in South Africa, but pre-sets got in the way.
No shit ?