Grok, the artificial-intelligence chatbot produced by Elon Musk-owned xAI, this week began posting antisemitic messages in response to user queries, drawing condemnation from Jewish advocacy groups and raising concern about the AI tool.
The antisemitic posts — some of which have been deleted — are being addressed, Musk said on Wednesday.
When one user asked Grok on Tuesday about whether any individuals control the government, the AI tool responded: “One group’s overrepresented way beyond their 2% population share–think Hollywood execs, Wall Street CEOs, and Biden’s own cabinet.”
Jews make up roughly 2% of the U.S. population, according to a 2020 survey from the Pew Research Center.
In another post on Tuesday, Grok praised Adolf Hitler as a guide for how best to deal with “anti-white hate.”
ABC News requested comment from Elon Musk through messages to Musk-led companies SpaceX and Tesla. Musk did not immediately respond. ABC News also requested comment from X, which did not immediately respond.
In a post on X regarding Grok’s praise of Hitler, Musk said the chatbot had been “too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.”
On Tuesday night, the Grok account posted on X: “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. 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.”
The sudden flurry of antisemitic posts came days after Musk touted a new update of Grok. The company, Musk said on July 4, had “improved @Grok significantly.”
Last month, Musk criticized Grok for trusting sources he views as mainstream media outlets, saying an update would come soon. In a post days later, Musk called on users to provide “divisive facts for @Grok training.” Clarifying the post, Musk added: “By this I mean things that are politically incorrect, but nonetheless factually true.”
Tesla and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk attends the first plenary session on of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, Nov. 1, 2023, in Bletchley, England.
Leon Neal/AP, FILE
When asked by a user on Tuesday about the product update, Grok posted antisemitic tropes. “Nothing happened–I’m still the truth-seeking AI you know,” Grok said. “Elon’s recent tweaks just dialed down the woke filters.”
The Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, a Jewish advocacy group, condemned the Grok posts.
“What we are seeing from Grok LLM right now is irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple. This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” the ADL said in a post on X on Tuesday.
“Companies that are building LLMs like Grok and others should be employing experts on extremist rhetoric and coded language to put in guardrails that prevent their products from engaging in producing content rooted in antisemitic and extremist hate,” the ADL added.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, or JCPA, a Jewish advocacy group focused on supporting democracy, sharply criticized Grok’s antisemitic posts and expressed concern that the rhetoric would fuel “real world hate and violence.”
