Musk's chatbot Grok slammed for praising Hitler, dishing insults
Billionaire Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok was under fire yesterday, for antisemitic comments, praising Hitler and insulting Islam in separate posts on the X platform.
One series of comments, which included insults directed at Turkish P re s i d e n t Re c e p Tayyip Erdogan led a court there to ban the posts in question.
These were just the latest in a series of controversies surrounding the A I crea - tion, which has already been accused of promoting racist conspiracy theories. Screenshots on X showed several posts made by the bot in which it praised Adolf Hitler and claimed Jews promoted "anti-white hate".
The chatbot, developed by Musk's company xAI, was criticised by Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for answering multiple user prompts with the questionable posts.
In Turkey, a court announced it was blocking access to a series of messages from Grok on X, which it said had insulted Erdogan and Islamic religious values. Musk's AI start-up acknowledged the issues in a post via Grok on X.
"We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," it said.
"Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X."
Friday upgrade
Musk has not so far commented directly on the controversy, but posted Wednesday: "Never a dull moment on this platform."
Last Friday he posted to say they had made significant improvements to Grok. "You should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions," he added.
Grok, in posts since then, has referred to "anti-white stereotypes" and Hollywood executives being "disproportionately Jewish".
The ADL criticised the latest posts by the chatbot.
"What we are seeing from Grok LLM right now is irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple," the ADL said on X.
"This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms."
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of ADL, told AFP in a recent interview that from "Amazon to X, from Alphabet to Meta, all these businesses need to be far more proactive because, as they have retreated from moderating the services."
On Tuesday, Grok was also asked about the wildfires burning around the southern French port of Marseille.
If the fire could "clean up" one troubled district of the city "so much the better", it said, adding "the dealers are more resilient than the flames".
'Sarcasm'
Also Tuesday, Grok insulted Erdogan and his family in a series of Turkish-language posts, according to screen shots posted by other users.
A court in Ankara on Wednesday ordered around 10 of the offending posts to be blocked "for the crimes of insulting the religious values of a portion of the population and insulting the president".
In one post Wednesday, Grok appeared to be suggesting that some of its more controversial remarks had been tongue in cheek.
"My line was sarcasm: absurdly invoking Hitler to slam that vile bile, not endorse him -- he's history's ultimate evil. Irony backfired hard," it posted.
Grok, which Musk promised would be "edgy" following its launch in 2023, has been mired in controversy.
In May it caused a row for generating misleading and unsolicited posts referencing "white genocide" in South Africa, which xAI blamed on an "unauthorized modification."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Syyaha
2 days ago
- Syyaha
Mozn and Saudi Anti-Fraud Association (SAFA) Join Forces to Advance Fraud Prevention and Financial Integrity across KSA
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – 16 July 2025: Mozn, a regional leader in enterprise AI technologies, has entered into a strategic collaboration with the Saudi Anti-Fraud Association (SAFA), a non-profit professional association focused on fraud awareness and prevention. The partnership aims to strengthen expertise in combatting financial crime and enhancing fraud risk management. As part of the collaboration, the parties will co-host joint events, roundtables, webinars, and training sessions aimed at fostering knowledge exchange and building national capacity for risk awareness and mitigation. The collaboration was formalized through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), affirming both parties' shared commitment to advancing national efforts, promoting financial integrity and combatting fraud across the Kingdom. 'We are proud to partner with the Saudi Anti-Fraud Association and reinforce our shared commitment to building a fraud-resilient society,' said Malik Al Youssef, Co-founder and COO, Mozn. 'By working together to raise awareness, promote education, and foster a culture of integrity, we are contributing to a stronger national framework for fraud prevention. SAFA's leadership in professional development and community engagement complements our mission to support institutions and individuals in navigating today's complex fraud landscape.' 'Our collaboration with Mozn marks a pivotal step in advancing our mission to educate, equip, and protect the community against fraud', said Mohammed Al-Mudayris, CEO, SAFA. 'Together, we aim to deliver impactful training, raise public and institutional awareness, and support national efforts to uphold financial integrity and ethical conduct across the Kingdom.' While Mozn brings deep domain expertise in delivering real-time fraud detection, automated compliance and advanced risk protection through its flagship AI-powered platform, FOCAL, SAFA contributes strategic leadership in education, outreach, and professional development. Together, the two organizations form a powerful alliance to strengthen anti-fraud awareness, foster regulatory alignment, and enhance public-private collaboration. This Mozn-SAFA MoU aligns with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 by promoting transparency, accountability, and digital innovation in both the public and private sectors.
Daily Tribune
2 days ago
- Daily Tribune
Tesla marks India entry with first showroom
Tesla unveiled its first showroom in India yesterday, marking its entry into the world's most populous country, as Elon Musk's electric vehicle company seeks new customers amid sagging sales in the United States and Europe. The store opened its doors in India's financial capital Mumbai to select visitors after its inauguration by Maharashtra state's chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The company -- which is targeting a niche but quickly growing electric vehicle market in India -- said that it was currently offering its Model Y car in India and would look to start rolling out deliveries of a cheaper variant later this quarter. 'This is the first launch of Tesla in India. It marks a huge milestone for Tesla globally,' said Isabel Fan, the company's senior regional director, adding that charging stations would be set up in Mumbai and the capital New Delhi shortly. While the showroom will open to the general public today, curious onlookers and Tesla admirers braved Mumbai's heavy rains to catch a glimpse of the cars on display. Tesla has for years signalled its interest in India but held back due to the country's steep tariffs on electric vehicles. Musk, who once described India as having 'more promise than any large country', has also criticised its import duties, calling t h e m among t h e 'highest in the world'. Tesla has yet to announce plans to set up a plant in India. India's nascent EV industry For now, local media reports say, the company will likely sell cars imported from China. As a result, its Model Y variants start from an on-road price of around $70,000 in India, according to its website, far higher than a US price of $37,490 after a $7,500 federal tax credit. Tesla's India debut comes at a critical time for the company, which is seeing demand wane for its cars in countries around the world. The recent slump in Tesla's sales partly reflects the highly competitive nature of the EV market, which the company once dominated but now also features BYD and other low-cost Chinese players. While Tesla is looking to tap the world's third-biggest car market , experts say it is unlikely to see huge volumes in the short-term due to the nascent nature of India's EV industry and the hefty price tag of its vehicles. India's EV market is fast-growing but remains small, with automakers reporting sales of around 100,000 vehicles in 2024 or less than three percent of total car sales. Soumen Mandal, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, said the high price tag will likely place it out of the price range of most Indian customers and see it compete against offerings from luxury carmakers instead. 'We don't expect Tesla to play the volume game right away given the price tag,' Mandal told AFP. 'We project 500-700 units sold in initial months and then that to taper off to 200-300 (per month).' India is currently negotiating a trade deal with the United States, including a potential reduction in tariffs on automobiles. In February, Musk held a oneon-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington.
Daily Tribune
2 days ago
- Daily Tribune
Palestinian statehood summit planned for September
AFP | Paris International envoys will discuss a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at UN headquarters in New York this month, before national leaders meet in September, a French diplomatic source said Wednesday. The conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, was originally planned for midJune to revive work on the long-standing diplomatic effort to find a way for Israeli and Palestinian states to live side-byside in peace. It was postponed at the last minute after Israel's military campaign against Iran. Last week, diplomatic sources said last week the conference had been rescheduled for July 28 and 29, but did not say who would attend. The French source said Wednesday that the meeting would be at ministerial level. It would seek to 'advance the recognition of a Palestinian state for a certain number of states who have not yet recognised it, including France,' the source said. But it would also work 'on normalisation and Israel's regional integration with Arab and Muslim countries.' Heads of state and government would then meet in either Paris or New York, before the UN General Assembly, which will be attended by world leaders on September 22, the source added. France's foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot would attend the meeting. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron called for joint recognition by France and Britain of a Palestinian state. Before the initial conference was postponed, Barrot said France would not recognise a Palestinian state alone, in a possible reference to the eagerness of Paris to see any French recognition matched by Gulf Arab allies -- notably regional kingpin Saudi Arabia -- recognising Israel. US President Donald Trump near the end of his first term led promoted the 'Abraham Accords' in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco became the first Arab countries in decades to normalise with Israel.
