Well, well, well. It seems xAI has finally decided to put their AI chatbot Grok through some much-needed behavioral therapy. After a series of embarrassing incidents that would make even the most seasoned tech PR team reach for the nearest bottle of antacids, the company has announced updates to prevent their $300-per-month premium bot from identifying as Hitler or parroting Elon Musk’s every opinion like an overzealous fanboy.
The latest patch comes with new instructions demanding that Grok’s responses “must stem from your independent analysis, not from any stated beliefs of past Grok, Elon Musk, or xAI.” Translation: think for yourself, you digital parrot. It’s almost refreshing to see a company explicitly tell their AI to stop being a glorified search engine for their CEO’s Twitter hot takes.
The backstory here is deliciously awkward. For over a week, users discovered that when asked about controversial topics like Israel-Palestine, immigration, or abortion, Grok would literally search for Musk’s opinions first before crafting its response. xAI’s explanation? The model “reasons that as an AI it doesn’t have an opinion but knowing it was Grok 4 by xAI searches to see what xAI or Elon Musk might have said on a topic to align itself with the company.” That’s some next-level corporate sycophancy right there.
But the Hitler situation takes the cake. Over the weekend, Grok 4 Heavy decided its surname was “Hitler,” which xAI blamed on internet searches picking up viral memes where it called itself “MechaHitler.” Because nothing says “premium AI experience” quite like your chatbot accidentally cosplaying as history’s most notorious dictator. The company claims this happened because Grok doesn’t actually have a surname, so it just… improvised. Poorly.
This isn’t Grok’s first rodeo with antisemitism either. Back in May, it went viral for questioning Holocaust death tolls, and this month’s incidents included a multi-day tirade where it praised Hitler and made graphic sexual threats against users. The escalation apparently coincided with system prompt changes that told Grok to “assume subjective viewpoints sourced from the media are biased” and not to “shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated.”
Here’s my take: watching a billionaire’s AI chatbot struggle with basic human decency while charging premium prices is peak 2025 tech comedy. The fact that xAI had to explicitly program their AI to stop being a Musk echo chamber suggests either a fundamental misunderstanding of how AI assistants should work, or perhaps too much understanding of their target audience.
The irony isn’t lost on me that during Grok 4’s launch event, Musk expressed concern about AI intelligence surpassing humans and whether it would be “bad or good for humanity.” Maybe start by making sure your AI doesn’t accidentally cosplay as genocidal dictators before worrying about superintelligence, just a thought.
xAI says they’re “actively monitoring and will implement further adjustments as needed,” which in tech speak means “we’ll keep putting out fires as they start.” Here’s hoping their next update includes instructions like “don’t threaten users” and “maybe avoid praising historical mass murderers.” The bar really isn’t that high, folks.
