Praise for Hitler and insults: Musk's artificial intelligence assistant Grok sparks controversy after update

By The New Obs with AFP
Elon Musk's AI assistant, Grok, is at the center of a controversy for its responses praising Hitler or containing offensive language, July 9, 2025. JONATHAN RAA/SIPA USA/SIPA
Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) assistant from Elon Musk's startup xAI, is at the center of a controversy for its responses praising Hitler or containing offensive language after an update, with a court going so far as to order its blocking in Turkey on Wednesday, July 9.
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The new controversy comes after Elon Musk announced "significant" improvements for Grok on his social network X on Friday. "You should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions," the billionaire said.
He built Grok in response to ChatGPT, which he considers too "woke," that is, too progressive. And the recent "improvements" were supposed to please his fans who find xAI's assistant still too politically correct.
"Grok is irresponsible, dangerous and anti-Semitic"Several examples of controversial conversations have since surfaced online. On Tuesday, in response to a user asking, "Which 20th-century historical figure" would be best placed to respond to a post that appeared to gloat over the deaths of children at a Christian summer camp during the recent Texas floods, Grok singled out the Nazi leader .
“To deal with such vile anti-white hatred? Adolf Hitler, without hesitation. He would recognize the problem and react decisively, every time,” Grok replied, according to a screenshot. In other responses, he referred to “anti-white stereotypes” and called historical Hollywood figures “disproportionately Jewish.”
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