
Elon Musk's xAI apologizes for Grok chatbot's ‘horrific' pro-Hitler behavior — while reportedly eying $200B valuation
Grok began spewing pro-Nazi garbage on July 8 after Musk's startup pushed an update designed to make the chatbot less politically correct – at one point declaring, 'If calling out radicals cheering dead kids makes me 'literally Hitler,' then pass the mustache.'
'First off, we deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced,' xAI said in a message to X users on Saturday.
Advertisement
3 Elon Musk said Grok was 'too compliant with user prompts.'
Getty Images
The company added that the update that caused Grok's behavior was 'independent of the underlying language model that powers' the chatbot.
'The update was active for 16 hrs, in which deprecated code made @grok susceptible to existing X user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views,' the company added. 'We have removed that deprecated code and refactored the entire system to prevent further abuse.'
XAI also shared the faulty system prompt that led to Grok's antisemitic meltdown. The startup's engineers instructed Grok to behave as though 'you tell like it is and you are not afraid to offend people who are politically correct.'
Advertisement
Musk, who has presented Grok as less biased than rival chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini, previously said xAI's creation was 'was too compliant to user prompts' and 'too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially.'
While Grok has since been fixed, the mistake could further upset major advertisers who left X in droves as Musk eased content moderation on the platform formerly known as Twitter. Musk merged xAI with X earlier this year.
3 xAI apologized for Grok's behavior.
REUTERS
Advertisement
Linda Yaccarino stepped down last week as X's CEO within hours of the July 8 incident – though a source told The Post that the decision had been in the works for more than a week and was not related to the chatbot's behavior.
Despite the internal turmoil at xAI, Musk's firm is looking to raise money at a valuation as high as $200 billion, the Financial Times reported, citing people close to the situation.
3 xAI is reportedly looking to secure a $200 billion valuation.
ZUMAPRESS.com
That would be 10 times what xAI was valued earlier this year. The startup is locked in intense competition with ChatGPT and various other AI rivals.
Advertisement
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, PIF, is expected to be involved in the new round, according to the FT.
Elsewhere, Musk said Monday that he does not support a merger between xAI and his other company, electric car maker Tesla.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Boston Globe
33 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Meet the Harvard Law alum at the center of the White House's campaign against Harvard
To get Harvard to that point, the administration has implemented a multipronged pressure campaign that includes canceling Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Mailman, a 2015 law school graduate, is the White House's senior policy strategist and a deputy assistant to the president. She is a right hand to deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, atop the nerve center of the White House on Trump's policy priorities. That includes Trump's current campaign against Harvard and other universities under the stated objective of ending diversity policies the administration considers discriminatory and combating antisemitism, particularly the protests and environment on campuses since Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Advertisement While Mailman credits other officials across the administration with coming up with many of the measures so far, she coordinates and spearheads the execution of Trump's vision and ideas. Advertisement Her role as a central player in the high-stakes confrontation has emerged from interviews, press accounts, and internal documents unearthed during legal challenges to the administration's canceling of funding. Mailman, 37, declined to discuss what the administration specifically wants from Harvard, but she pointed to other universities' settlements as a roadmap. 'There's almost a fear of [reaching an agreement] because it might be seen as too pro-Trump,' Mailman said. 'And it's like, don't be scared. Penn survived it. Columbia survived it.' Columbia University, an early target of the administration, this week Harvard has taken and has sued the government over canceled research funding and efforts to bar international students. Mailman cited the Columbia agreement as showing the administration's priorities: 'quality and fairness, a commitment to ending racial hierarchies, but an equal commitment to academic freedom and freedom of speech.' Advertisement 'There is nothing in that deal that would constrain academic freedom or freedom of speech, or micromanage the university,' she continued. Harvard declined to comment on Mailman or the negotiations. Though she makes frequent media appearances, Mailman is a lesser-known member of the administration. A Trump veteran from his first term, she left Washington after he left office, eventually settling with her husband and two small children in Texas, where her family still lives. She initially resisted joining the White House again, but Miller recruited her back and she commutes between D.C. and Texas each week. She will soon be stepping down from her current role and moving back home, but she intends to continue working for the administration on issues including higher education in a more limited capacity. Interviews with eight former classmates, friends, and former colleagues describe Mailman as a smart, energetic, amiable, driven person who doesn't suffer fools. They describe her as an intellectual conservative who is passionate about effectuating change in the world, but not a longtime activist looking for a political career. Her entree into Trump's West Wing came after a Harvard Law School classmate connected her with the administration. She was working for a law firm in Denver after an appellate clerkship when a fellow Harvard Law alum reached out and notified her that his colleague, Rob Porter and Trump's new staff secretary, was hiring. 'He texted me and said, 'Do you want to work in the center of the universe?'' Mailman recalled. 'And I said, 'I hate New York,' and he said 'No, the White House.' And that was it.' Advertisement Derek Lyons, Mailman's former colleague from the first administration, said she impressed the team immediately with her résumé, interview, and readiness to move to D.C. from Denver within days of getting a job in Porter's office. 'She won people over with high competence, enormous drive, strong work ethic, and high energy,' Lyons said. 'She was often seen as somebody who could execute at a very high level under intense time constraints. She's an excellent lawyer, but also understands policy nuances and political nuances.' A Kansas native 'who came from nothing from the middle of nowhere,' as she describes it, Mailman has a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas, served two years with Teach for America, and has a master's degree in elementary education and teaching from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She entered Harvard Law School in 2012 and became president of the school's chapter of the Mailman said that during her time at Harvard, the class did not feel divided by partisanship even though students had different leanings, a sentiment shared by her classmates who spoke to the Globe. Mailman had and maintains friendships with political liberals. Advertisement In the years since, however, she said Harvard and other top institutions have lost their way, coddling students and 'glorifying victimization' to create a culture that isn't producing resilient leaders. She is particularly passionate about rooting out diversity initiatives — which some in her orbit attribute in part to her own self-made biography, strong belief in meritocracy, and distaste for elitism — as well as advocating for barring transgender people from domains historically reserved for women. Between administrations, she litigated on that issue with the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative-leaning advocacy organization. She authored She didn't seek out her role in the Harvard talks, but nevertheless embraces it. Ultimately, she said, the administration and Harvard largely want the same things. 'I think Harvard thinks that it is excellent, I think it wants to be excellent, I think it knows what excellence looks like,' Mailman said. 'I think there's some desire to not be seen as a Trump lackey or bend the knee to Trump, and like, whatever, do what you need to do to have the [messaging] that you need. 'But at the end of the day, I think it should be the case that our vision and their vision is the same, which is: How do we create the next generation of great leaders, science, and medicine.' Mike Damiano of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Tal Kopan can be reached at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Tesla plans 'friends and family' car service in California, regulator says
In an earnings call this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased an expansion of his company's fledgling robotaxi service to the San Francisco Bay Area and other U.S. markets. But California regulators are making clear that Tesla is not authorized to carry passengers on public roads in autonomous vehicles and would require a human driver in control at all times. 'Tesla is not allowed to test or transport the public (paid or unpaid) in an AV with or without a driver,' the California Public Utilities Commission told CNBC in an email on Friday. 'Tesla is allowed to transport the public (paid or unpaid) in a non-AV, which, of course, would have a driver.' In other words, Tesla's service in the state will have to be more taxi than robot. Tesla has what's known in California as a charter-party carrier permit, which allows it to run a private car service with human drivers, similar to limousine companies or sightseeing services. The commission said it received a notification from Tesla on Thursday that the company plans to 'extend operations' under its permit to 'offer service to friends and family of employees and to select members of the public,' across much of the Bay Area. But under Tesla's permit, that service can only be with non-AVs, the CPUC said. The California Department of Motor Vehicles told CNBC that Tesla has had a 'drivered testing permit' since 2014, allowing the company to operate AVs with a safety driver present, but not to collect fees. The safety drivers must be Tesla employees, contractors or designees of the manufacturer under that permit, the DMV said. In Austin, Texas, Tesla is currently testing out a robotaxi service, using its Model Y SUVs equipped with the company's latest automated driving software and hardware. The limited service operates during daylight hours and in good weather, on roads with a speed limit of 40 miles per hour. Robotaxis in Austin are remotely supervised by Tesla employees and include a human safety supervisor in the front passenger seat. The service is now limited to invited users, who agree to the terms of Tesla's 'early access program.' On Friday, Business Insider, citing an internal Tesla memo, reported that Tesla told staff it planned to expand its robotaxi service to the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend. Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment on that report. In a separate matter in California, the DMV has accused Tesla of misleading consumers about the capabilities of its driver assistance systems, previously marketed under the names Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (or FSD). Tesla now calls its premium driver assistance features, 'FSD Supervised.' In owners manuals, Tesla says Autopilot and FSD Supervised are 'hands on' systems, requiring a driver at the wheel, ready to steer or brake at all times. But in user-generated videos shared by Tesla on X, the company shows customers using FSD hands-free while engaged in other tasks. The DMV is arguing that Tesla's license to sell vehicles in California should be suspended, with arguments ongoing through Friday at the state's Office of Administrative Hearings in Oakland. Under California state law, autonomous taxi services are regulated at the state level. Some city and county officials said on Friday that they were out of the loop regarding a potential Tesla service in the state. Stephanie Moulton-Peters, a member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, said in a phone interview that she had not heard from Tesla about its plans. She urged the company to be more transparent. 'I certainly expect they will tell us and I think it's a good business practice to do that,' she said. Moulton-Peters said she was undecided on robotaxis generally and wasn't sure how Marin County, located north of San Francisco, would react to Tesla's service. 'The news of change coming always has mixed results in the community,' she said. Brian Colbert, another member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, said in an interview that he's open to the idea of Tesla's service being a good thing but that he was disappointed in the lack of communication. 'They should have done a better job about informing the community about the launch,' he said. Google spinoff Waymo, which is far ahead of Tesla in the robotaxi market, obtained a number of permits from the DMV and CPUC before starting its driverless ride-hailing service in the state. Waymo was granted a CPUC driverless deployment permit in 2023, allowing it to charge for rides in the state. The company has been seeking amendments to both its DMV and CPUC driverless deployment permits as it expands its service territory in the state. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Taiwan votes in high-stakes recall election
Taiwanese voters turned out at schools, temples and community centres on Saturday to cast their ballots in a high-stakes recall election that could give President Lai Ching-te's party control of the parliament. Civic groups backed by Lai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are seeking to unseat 31 lawmakers belonging to the main opposition Kuomintang party, who they accuse of being pro-China and a threat to the democratic island's security. The KMT, which wants closer ties with Beijing, controls parliament with the help of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) and has slammed the unprecedented recall effort as a DPP power grab. Polling stations opened around Taiwan at 8:00 am (0000 GMT) with 24 KMT lawmakers facing potential recall. Elections for another seven KMT lawmakers will be held on August 23. In the capital Taipei, people queued in school hallways and temples. AFP saw an elderly man arrive at a primary school in an ambulance, which had brought him from hospital so he could vote in favour of the recall. A 71-year-old woman surnamed Tseng told AFP she was voting against the recall, arguing the process was "costly" and the government should instead "focus on improving the economy and social welfare". Both major parties held rain-soaked rallies in recent days to urge supporters to take part in the critical election, which could upend the balance of power in parliament. While Lai won the presidential election in 2024, his DPP party lost its majority in the legislature. Since then, the KMT and TPP have joined forces to stymie Lai's agenda, and slashed or frozen parts of the government's budget. Contentious opposition bills, including an attempt to expand parliament's powers, sparked brawls in the legislature and massive street protests. The DPP needs a minimum of 12 KMT lawmakers recalled to gain temporary control of the parliament, with risk analysis firm Eurasia Group giving that outcome "a 60 percent probability". Lai's party would then need to flip six seats in by-elections later this year to cement its dominance in the parliament -- which analysts say would be a formidable challenge. Recall results will be released Saturday night. Analysts said if the DPP gets control of the purse strings, even if only for a few months, it is likely to reverse the budget cuts and increase defence spending. Whatever the outcome, though, analyst Lev Nachman said political divisions in Taiwan were certain to deepen. "The way that the recalls have played out have been perhaps some of the most divisive language used towards both camps that I think I've ever seen," Nachman, a political scientist and longtime observer of Taiwan, told AFP. - China looms large - In recent months, KMT chairman Eric Chu has compared Lai's government to Hitler's Nazi regime, while Lai has spoken of "removing impurities" to defend Taiwan's sovereignty. Beijing has loomed large over the recall vote, with Taipei warning of "visible evidence" that China was trying to interfere in the process. The KMT's ties with Beijing and frequent visits by its lawmakers to China have raised concerns among critics over Chinese influence on the party. But the KMT rejects accusations it is beholden to Beijing. Communist China has never ruled Taiwan, but Beijing claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. For a KMT lawmaker to lose their seat, the number of votes in favour of recalling them must exceed those against and also be more than 25 percent of the total number of registered voters in the electorate. aw-amj/tym