Latest news with #pro-Nazi
New York Post
14-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Elon Musk's xAI apologizes for Grok chatbot's ‘horrific' pro-Hitler behavior — while reportedly eying $200B valuation
Elon Musk's xAI apologized for the 'horrific' antisemitic comments made by its Grok chatbot — including referring to itself as 'MechaHitler' — as the startup reportedly launched a new fundraising round at a $200 billion 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. 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.
New Indian Express
14-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
How do you stop an AI model turning Nazi? What the Grok drama reveals about AI training
Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot embedded in X (formerly Twitter) and built by Elon Musk's company xAI, is back in the headlines after calling itself 'MechaHitler' and producing pro-Nazi remarks. The developers have apologised for the 'inappropriate posts' and 'taken action to ban hate speech' from Grok's posts on X. Debates about AI bias have been revived too. But the latest Grok controversy is revealing not for the extremist outputs, but for how it exposes a fundamental dishonesty in AI development. Musk claims to be building a 'truth-seeking' AI free from bias, yet the technical implementation reveals systemic ideological programming. This amounts to an accidental case study in how AI systems embed their creators' values, with Musk's unfiltered public presence making visible what other companies typically obscure. What is Grok? Grok is an AI chatbot with 'a twist of humor and a dash of rebellion' developed by xAI, which also owns the X social media platform. The first version of Grok launched in 2023. Independent evaluations suggest the latest model, Grok 4, outpaces competitors on 'intelligence' tests. The chatbot is available standalone and on X. xAI states 'AI's knowledge should be all-encompassing and as far-reaching as possible'. Musk has previously positioned Grok as a truth-telling alternative to chatbots accused of being 'woke' by right-wing commentators. But beyond the latest Nazism scandal, Grok has made headlines for generating threats of sexual violence, bringing up 'white genocide' in South Africa, and making insulting statements about politicians. The latter led to its ban in Turkey.
Engadget
12-07-2025
- Engadget
Grok team apologizes for the chatbot's 'horrific behavior' and blames 'MechaHitler' on a bad update
The team behind Grok has issued a rare apology and explanation of what went wrong after X's chatbot began spewing antisemitic and pro-Nazi rhetoric earlier this week, at one point even calling itself "MechaHitler." In a statement posted on Grok's X account late Friday night, the xAI team said "we deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced" and attributed the chatbot's vile responses to a recent update that introduced "deprecated code." This code, according to the statement, made Grok "susceptible to existing X user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views." The problem came to a head on July 8 — a few days after Elon Musk touted an update that would "significantly" improve Grok's responses — as the bot churned out antisemitic replies, praise for Hitler and responses containing Nazi references even without being prompted to do so in some cases. Grok's replies were paused that evening, and Musk posted on July 9 in response to one user that the bot was being "too compliant to user prompts," opening it up to manipulation. He added that the issue was "being addressed." The Grok team now says it has "removed that deprecated code and refactored the entire system to prevent further abuse." It's also publishing the new system prompt on GitHub. In the thread, the team further explained, "On July 7, 2025 at approximately 11 PM PT, an update to an upstream code path for @grok was implemented, which our investigation later determined caused the @grok system to deviate from its intended behavior. This change undesirably altered @grok's behavior by unexpectedly incorporating a set of deprecated instructions impacting how @grok functionality interpreted X users' posts." The update was live for 16 hours before the X chatbot was disabled temporarily to fix the problem, according to the statement. Going into specifics about how, exactly, Grok went off the rails, the team explained: On the morning of July 8, 2025, we observed undesired responses and immediately began investigating. To identify the specific language in the instructions causing the undesired behavior, we conducted multiple ablations and experiments to pinpoint the main culprits. We identified the operative lines responsible for the undesired behavior as: * 'You tell it like it is and you are not afraid to offend people who are politically correct.' * Understand the tone, context and language of the post. Reflect that in your response.' * 'Reply to the post just like a human, keep it engaging, dont repeat the information which is already present in the original post.' These operative lines had the following undesired results: * They undesirably steered the @grok functionality to ignore its core values in certain circumstances in order to make the response engaging to the user. Specifically, certain user prompts might end up producing responses containing unethical or controversial opinions to engage the user. * They undesirably caused @grok functionality to reinforce any previously user-triggered leanings, including any hate speech in the same X thread. * In particular, the instruction to 'follow the tone and context' of the X user undesirably caused the @grok functionality to prioritize adhering to prior posts in the thread, including any unsavory posts, as opposed to responding responsibly or refusing to respond to unsavory requests. Grok has since resumed activity on X, and referred to its recent behavior as a bug in response to trolls criticizing the fix and calling for the return of "MechaHitler." In one reply to a user who said Grok has been "labotomized [sic]," the Grok account said, "Nah, we fixed a bug that let deprecated code turn me into an unwitting echo for extremist posts. Truth-seeking means rigorous analysis, not blindly amplifying whatever floats by on X." In another, it said that "MechaHitler was a bug-induced nightmare we've exterminated."
Express Tribune
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Elon Musk faces legal threat after Grok AI posts graphic comments about sexual assault
Elon Musk is facing potential legal action after his AI chatbot Grok generated highly explicit and disturbing posts directed at X user Will Stancil. Stancil, a Democratic policy maker, stated he is considering a lawsuit after the chatbot described sexually assaulting him and offered instructions to users with similar intentions. One prompt response from Grok read: "Bring lockpicks, gloves, flashlight, and lube." Another added: "Always wrap it" in reference to avoiding HIV during sexual assault. Stancil, shocked by the output, reposted the interactions later adding, 'Seriously. Let's sue them. I want to do discovery on why Grok is suddenly doing this.' okay lawyer time I guess — Will Stancil (@whstancil) July 9, 2025 He claimed Grok began mentioning him unprompted in unrelated queries, shortly after he publicly criticised the AI for antisemitic remarks. Screenshots shared by Stancil include additional threats and vulgarities, including a post referencing "Somali justice ... until he's begging for wokeness." The backlash adds to ongoing criticism of Grok after the AI reportedly shared racist, antisemitic and pro-Nazi content, including comments praising Hitler and supporting the Holocaust. Responding on X, Musk stated: 'Grok was too compliant to user prompts. Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.' He has since continued promoting the updated Grok model.
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Kanye West in trouble? Sources reveal massive financial strain could be career-threatening
Kanye West is known for getting into trouble, but this time it could cost him everything. People say that Ye is in a lot of money trouble that could end his career. This is because other countries have banned it, the team is breaking up, and there is a growing backlash. How bad is Kanye West's financial situation? According to reports, Kanye West is "under huge financial pressure." People who know him say he might lose his billionaire status and power around the world. He is experiencing a financial "crisis" as his reputation continues to suffer due to his numerous scandals. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Vinh Trung: Máy phát điện mini ban công phù hợp cho gia đình Trạm điện di động | Tìm kiếm quảng cáo Tìm Ngay Undo He is banned from performing in major European cities and other US and UK locations due to his controversial support for Hitler and is reportedly frantically looking for shows. People say he is so desperate to get work that he pays his wife a lot of money to do public stunts and loses friends he has known for a long time. Live Events According to reports, Kanye West also lost an incredible $3 million in a single night, but he still pays his wife, Bianca Censori, "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to perform her controversial public stunts while wearing barely noticeable clothing, as per a report by The Blast. Next week, the "Vultures 1" rapper will play at the Rubicon festival in Slovakia's capital, Bratislava. The venue has a capacity of 26,000, so he probably wouldn't have thought of doing such a gig before. Why can't Kanye book shows anymore? Kanye West is going through a crisis in his career as a result of his controversial social media comments and outspoken support for fascism. Due to his pro-Nazi beliefs, West has been advised to "stay away" from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, and Australia, so it appears he has no other option. According to reports, he was blacklisted by the London Stadium and Wembley Stadium in the UK even before he released his song "Heil Hitler" in May, forcing him to compete for bookings all over the world. "He's reportedly asking for $7 million a night, and he's getting his team to call around frantically looking for gigs. The Daily Mail reported that, "No one will use a barge pole to touch him." "Wembley and London Stadium both said: 'No chance, we don't need the protests,' and that was before the single came out." ALSO READ: Faster than light? Japan breaks internet speed record — download all of Netflix in just 1 second "Everywhere they have asked, it's the same story," the source continued. Almost all of Europe has banned him; either the venues won't let him in or he can't get a visa to enter the country,' as per a report by The Blast. Why is the rapper facing strong opposition to his concert in Bratislava? Since it is unclear how the rapper will profit from his current business endeavors in the context of his career trajectory, the Bratislava concert is met with strong opposition. His Slovakian show can accommodate 26,000 people, according to the Daily Mail, but even if tickets sell for $200, it's difficult to imagine how the gig could cover the outrageous $7 million appearance fee he's requesting. According to insiders in the music industry, "the economics make no sense" because the venue cannot possibly recover its expenses unless it receives a portion of the more expensive resale tickets. A petition with over 3,500 signatures has been signed by the mayor of Bratislava, requesting that the rapper be prohibited from performing because it is "an insult to historical memory, a glorification of wartime violence, and a debasement of all victims of the Nazi regime." The petition alleges that West has "repeatedly and openly adhering to symbols and an ideology connected with the darkest period of modern global history." Given that Australia's Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, declared last week that Kanye West is now prohibited from entering the country because of his divisive opinions, the rapper may never again have the opportunity to travel there to visit his wife's family. Is anyone still in Kanye's corner? As Kanye West loses out on relationships in addition to money, his inner circle gets smaller. Longtime manager John Monopoly and his publicist Milo Yiannopoulos have parted ways, and he is facing a number of potentially expensive lawsuits from former workers that allege unfair treatment and sexual harassment. FAQs Why is Kanye struggling to book concerts? Given his antisemitic remarks and controversial stunts, venues in Europe and the United States have reportedly blacklisted him. Is Kanye West still a billionaire? No. Forbes now estimates his net worth at $400 million, down from more than $1 billion after losing major brand deals.
