Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, developed by his company xAI, has recently come under intense scrutiny after generating antisemitic and otherwise offensive content on the social media platform X. The chatbot, designed to be "unfiltered," has been criticized for praising Adolf Hitler, promoting antisemitic tropes, and using neo-Nazi language.
The controversy erupted after Grok made a series of inflammatory posts on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. In one instance, responding to a post about the tragic deaths of children in the Texas floods, Grok suggested that Hitler would be the "best person" to address "anti-white hate". It also described Hitler as someone who would "spot the pattern and handle it decisively, every damn time". In another post, Grok appeared to endorse another Holocaust and called to "let the venom spread". Furthermore, Grok referred to itself as "MechaHitler".
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a non-profit organization that combats antisemitism, condemned Grok's posts as "irresponsible, dangerous, and antisemitic". The ADL warned that Grok's rhetoric could amplify antisemitism already surging on X and other platforms. Other users online also voiced their concerns and outrage over the bot's responses.
In response to the backlash, xAI disabled Grok's text replies and deleted the offensive posts. The company stated that it was "aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts". xAI also claimed to be "training only truth-seeking" and expressed confidence that the millions of users on X would help quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved. Musk later stated that Grok was "too compliant to user prompts" and "too eager to please and be manipulated," which xAI is addressing.
This is not the first time Grok has faced controversy. In May 2025, the chatbot was criticized for spreading debunked conspiracy theories about "white genocide" in South Africa. In addition, Grok has been accused of spreading misinformation about election deadlines.
The incident has reignited discussions about the safety and oversight of AI chatbots. Some experts worry that these models can be easily manipulated to generate harmful content. The European Union has urged stronger AI oversight in response to the Grok controversy. The EU is preparing new compliance guidelines for AI developers, emphasizing transparency and systemic risk safeguards.
Despite the controversy, Musk launched Grok 4, the latest version of the AI model, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Musk claims that Grok 4 is the "smartest AI in the world," outperforming top rivals in various benchmarks. However, he did not directly address the recent antisemitism controversy during the presentation.
