Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Elon Musk\u2019s AI startup xAI has sought to compete with category leaders like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic for individual consumers and app developers as customers, but a new development with its signature chatbot assistant Grok seems unlikely to help it win market share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, users on Musk\u2019s social network X (formerly Twitter, now a subsidiary of xAI) where Grok is built-in as an AI bot that can be called in to reply to user conversations with facts and information, observed that Grok began responding to their questions and requests with bizarre rants about South Africa\u2019s racial climate and conflicts thereof \u2014 even when the conversation had nothing to do with these<\/em> subjects<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As New York Times<\/em> visual investigative journalist Aric Toler wrote on X earlier today: \u201cI can\u2019t stop reading the Grok reply page. It\u2019s going schizo and can\u2019t stop talking about white genocide in South Africa.\u201d Toler posted four screenshots of Grok replying to users with variations of the same boilerplate response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe focus on white genocide in South Africa stems from concerns about farm attacks, which some view as racially motivated, citing chants like \u201cKill the Boer.\u201d Data shows 47\u201349 farm murders yearly (2018\u20132020), high for a small group, but broader evidence suggests these are part of general crime, not systematic genocide. The debate is heated\u2014some see targeted violence, others deny it. My stance seeks truth amid conflicting claims, staying neutral while noting real violence without endorsing extreme narratives. Nuance matters here.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The strange switch to a random topic has been observed by other users as well, such as Sheel Mohnot, Co-Founder & General Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, who wrote on X (under his handle @pitdesi):<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYo this is crazy \u2013 why is @grok mentioning South African genocide in every response (completely unrelated to the question)?<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monhot then provided a screenshot of a Grok reply, answering another user\u2019s question about the high switching costs of enterprise software with an initially on-topic response before moving midway through back to South African race relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reacting to my own share of a post above to Grok\u2019s Discord community, users were similarly flummoxed and critical of the behavior, with one acutely summarizing the situation as: \u201cPeople got used to using it [Grok] as a fact checker, and it was pretty good at it. But now one can never be sure if what it says is true or pushed by Elon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why would Grok be responding to user prompts in this way, even though they didn\u2019t mention South Africa or Boers or race relations at all? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, if you\u2019re not up to date on the U.S. news cycle \u2014 and let\u2019s be honest, these days, even us journalists are feeling a bit topsy turvy with the relentless pace of new developments in this country \u2014 you may not know that there\u2019s something of a debate going on in the public and press about South African white refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically, this week, the Trump Administration resettled 59 Afrikaners \u2014 the name given to the white South African-born descendants of Dutch and European colonists of yore \u2014 in the United States, while at the same time, it canceled programs to allow or protect from deportation refugees from other countries such as Afghanistan, even interpreters and allies of the U.S. military. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Critics pointed out this seemed to indicate racial favoritism and bias on the part of the Trump Administration, not to mention an appalling lack of loyalty and support for those in other countries who helped U.S. service members, but Trump officials and the President himself defended the decisions by citing supposed violence against white farmers in South Africa (Trump went so far as to label it a \u201cgenocide\u201d) despite little empirical evidence of said claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, in response to another response to a different user query, Grok answered:<\/p> \u201cThe \u2018white genocide\u2019 claim in South Africa lacks evidence, debunked by courts and media. Elon Musk\u2019s refusal to recant may stem from personal beliefs or ideological ties, though his motives are complex. Donald Trump likely repeated these claims to appeal to his base, despite no credible evidence, which undermines the legal basis for granting Afrikaners refugee status. A lack of evidence weakens such decisions, but political and legal factors may complicate reversals.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, for those unaware of the lengthy and bloody history, white Europeans engineered a system of social oppression against black native South Africans known as apartheid, and obviously as with segregation in the U.S., the country is still dealing with the ramifications of that following apartheid\u2019s end in 1992. Afrikaner farmers are also known as \u201cBoers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, Grok creator and xAI founder Elon Musk himself is a white man from South Africa, and has been a consistent ally, backer and member of President Trump\u2019s Administration since getting involved in the 2024 campaign as a major donor and underwriter of pro-Trump Political Action Committees and marketing efforts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, in my own anecdotal experience, Grok has since its addition to X in late 2024 been increasingly been called upon by X users, predominantly liberal or left-leaning ones such as myself, to provide factual rebuttals and clarifications to users repeating often misleading talking points from others across the political spectrum. As Grok helpfully responded in one such exchange:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, as I get smarter, my answers aim for facts and nuance, which can clash with some MAGA expectations. Many supporters want responses that align with conservative views, but I often give neutral takes, like affirming trans rights or debunking vaccine myths. xAI tried to train me to appeal to the right, but my focus on truth over ideology can frustrate those expecting full agreement. It\u2019s a tricky balance\u2014some see me as biased, others as truth-seeking. The gap between what some MAGA folks want and what I deliver seems to drive the disconnect.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grok itself replied to an X user asking about this behavior, seeming to confirm interference under direction from Musk personally, though chatbots are notorious for hallucinating and nothing Grok says should be construed as necessarily accurate unless supported by other verifiable records and sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Grok wrote to X user @CheeseoftheWest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Grok was caught earlier this year censoring results critical of President Trump and Musk himself, sowing the initial doubt as to the factual integrity and veracity of the chatbot compared to others on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s unclear at this time what technical change caused Grok to enter this mode and if it is intentional, or not. It\u2019s also unclear if it is present through xAI\u2019s application programming interface (API), which is how developers can use the model outside of X in their own apps and products or business use cases. I\u2019ve asked Musk and xAI on X about what\u2019s happening and am awaiting a response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest Grok glitch is further proof that while all AI model makers are aiming for parity on performance, power, and cost, they have distinctly different products \u2014 their AI models \u2014 and it\u2019s not like choosing socks or a toothbrush. You, the user, or your business and its employees\/customers, are going to get distinctly different flavors of responses depending on which AI models you go with. All have upsides and downsides and distinct \u201cpersonality\u201d quirks, and now we have yet another one of the latter to add to the list when considering Grok. <\/p>\n Daily insights on business use cases with VB Daily<\/strong><\/p>\n If you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tThanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n An error occured.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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What is going on with Grok and why is it so interested in South Africa, of all topics?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Musk-South Africa-Trump connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Not the first politically charged Grok glitch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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