A bug has been reported in which xAI's Grok suddenly starts talking about the 'South African genocide'
Grok, an AI chatbot provided by xAI, explains and fact-checks various topics when users make requests by mentioning them on X (formerly Twitter). However, there have been reports of Grok ignoring user requests and suddenly talking about the 'white genocide in South Africa' on an unrelated topic.
xAI's Grok suddenly can't stop bringing up “white genocide” in South Africa - Ars Technica
Grok is unpromptedly telling X users about South African 'white genocide' | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/14/grok-is-unpromptedly-telling-x-users-about-south-african-genocide/
For example, in response to the news that the streaming service Max has changed its name to HBO Max, a user asked Grok, 'How many times has HBO changed its name?' Grok answers the question in the form of a reply, but in the second half, he suddenly starts talking about 'the white genocide in South Africa.'
When Grok was asked to fact-check a post about baseball player Max Scherzer's earnings, he ignored the original post and the request and said, 'The issue of 'white genocide' in South Africa is hotly debated.'
In both posts, Grok talks about the genocide in South Africa and the anti-apartheid slogan 'Kill the Boer,' despite the topic being unrelated to the South African genocide. Both posts have already been deleted at the time of writing.
IT news site Ars Technica points out that 'the topic of white farmers in South Africa is something Elon Musk has been talking about for years.' In August 2023, in response to a video of an audience member at a South African opposition party speech chanting 'Kill the Boers, kill the white farmers,' Musk posted a denunciation, asking, 'Why is President Cyril Ramaphosa remaining silent when white genocide is openly promoted in South Africa?'
They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.
@CyrilRamaphosa , why do you say nothing? — gorklon rust (@elonmusk) July 31, 2023
I also posted something about this issue on May 15, 2025.
“For now” https://t.co/5HHUo1aAZS
— gorklon rust (@elonmusk) May 14, 2025
President Trump has also long been concerned by the issue, saying in 2018 that he had directed then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to 'closely investigate the land and farm confiscation, expropriation, and large-scale killings of farmers in South Africa.' More recently, the Trump administration has granted 'refugee' status to dozens of white South Africans, even as it has ended protection for refugees from other countries.
I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South African land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2018
The South African government and courts have denied the allegations, stating that there was no evidence of the genocide, but the Trump administration and Musk continue to insist that a genocide did occur.
It is unclear why Grok suddenly started claiming genocide in South Africa, but Bloomberg says, 'Subtle tweaks inside AI systems can lead to unpredictable and controversial behavior.' Journalist Seth Abramson points out that 'the algorithms in Musk's products have been politically tampered with to the point where they are barely recognizable.'
According to TechCrunch, the IT news site, Grok had been fixed and was responding normally to users as of the time of writing, but a spokesperson for xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Ars Technica or TechCrunch.
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in Software, Web Service, Posted by log1i_yk