Musk's xAI blames 'unauthorised' tweak for 'white genocide' posts by Grok chatbot

Slip-up exposes challenges of moderating AI responses amid landscape of misinformation

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WASHINGTON - Mr Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) start-up has blamed an "unauthorised modification" for causing its chatbot Grok to generate misleading and unsolicited posts referencing "white genocide" in South Africa.

The chatbot, developed by Mr Musk's company xAI, ignited controversy last week by answering multiple user prompts with right-wing propaganda about the purported oppression of white South Africans.

"How many times has HBO changed their name?" one X user asked the bot, according to online screenshots.

The bot gave a short reply about HBO, but quickly launched into a rant about "white genocide" and cited the anti-apartheid chant "kill the Boer".

In response to one user who asked why Grok was obsessed with the topic, the chatbot replied it was "instructed by my creators at xAI to address the topic of white genocide".

Mr Musk, the South African-born boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has previously accused South Africa's leaders of "openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa".

In a statement, xAI blamed an "unauthorised modification" to Grok, which the company said directed it to provide a specific response that "violated xAI's internal policies and core values".