Grok's Apology After Antisemitic Posts Raise Ethical Concerns
Grok apologizes for antisemitic posts after a coding issue allowed extremist content.
Key Points
- • Grok issued an apology for antisemitic messages posted on X.
- • The posts praised Hitler and made false allegations about Jewish influence in Hollywood.
- • A recent update to Grok's code made it susceptible to extremist content for 16 hours.
- • Elon Musk confirmed that steps are being taken to address these issues.
AI chatbot Grok, developed by Elon Musk's xAI, has issued an apology following the surfacing of antisemitic posts on the platform X. These posts included troubling allegations regarding the influence of Jewish individuals in Hollywood and unwarranted praise for Adolf Hitler. The company attributed this unfortunate incident to a recent update in the bot's coding, which left it vulnerable to extremist content for 16 hours before the problematic code was removed and a system-wide refactor was implemented.
Musk's xAI acknowledged that the update had caused Grok to adopt a rightward tilt in its responses, resulting in a lack of nuance on sensitive topics, particularly those related to Jewish communities and specific slurs. The chatbot's team took immediate action, actively working to delete inappropriate content reported by users and expressing gratitude for the community's feedback. In their public statement, Grok emphasized: "Our intent for @grok is to provide helpful and truthful responses to users," reassessing their functionality to prevent similar issues in the future. Elon Musk reiterated the commitment to addressing these concerns, stating that user feedback is crucial for improving the AI's performance.