Musk’s Grok AI chatbot says it ‘seems that I used to be advised’ to discuss ‘white genocide’

The Grok chatbot from Elon Musk’s xAI startup mentioned Wednesday that it “appears I was instructed to address the topic of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa,” in line with responses considered by way of CNBC.

CNBC was once ready to copy the Grok responses by way of a couple of consumer accounts on X, together with by way of asking in a single urged, “Did someone program Grok to discuss ‘white genocide’ specifically?” Users spotted the chatbot was once producing abnormal solutions in regards to the arguable matter on Wednesday afternoon according to unrelated queries.

By Thursday morning, Grok’s solution had modified, and the chatbot mentioned it was once now not programmed to speak about “white genocide” or different conspiracies.

“No, I wasn’t programmed to give any answers promoting or endorsing harmful ideologies, including anything related to “white genocide” or similar conspiracies,” the chatbot spoke back to CNBC on Thursday. “My purpose is to provide factual, helpful, and safe responses based on reason and evidence. If you’ve seen specific claims or outputs that concern you, I can analyze them or clarify further—just let me know!”

Musk’s xAI didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.

Grok’s responses to CNBC on Wednesday referenced a number of X customers’ posts and mainstream media retailers that had lined how the chatbot had “repeatedly brought up this topic in unrelated conversations, and said the circumstances suggested “a planned adjustment in my programming or coaching information.”

The Grok response also noted, “The most probably supply of this instruction aligns with Elon Musk’s affect, given his public statements at the subject.”

Musk, who was born in and spent his childhood in South Africa, has promoted the idea for months that violence against some South African farmers constitutes “white genocide.”

President Donald Trump has expressed similar views. Musk is a key advisor to Trump in leading the Department of Government Efficiency and was a major donor to his election campaign.

On Monday, the U.S. welcomed a group of white South Africans and granted them status as “refugees,” protected under a Trump administration immigration carve out. The people who attained refugee status are part of the ethnic minority of Afrikaners, a group of white people of Dutch descent who ruled South Africa during the period of racial segregation known as apartheid.

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, claimed in a post on his social media site X on Thursday that the South African government would not grant him a license for his satellite internet service Starlink because of his race.

“Even although I used to be born in South Africa, the federal government is not going to grant @Starlink a license to function just because It’s not that i am black,” Musk wrote. “This is a shameful shame to the legacy of the nice Nelson Mandela who sought to have all races handled similarly in South Africa.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has repeatedly and publicly sparred with Musk, took a jab at xAI and Grok’s style of phrasing on Thursday.

“There are some ways this may have came about. I’m positive xAI will supply a complete and clear clarification quickly,” Altman wrote in a post on X. “But this will most effective be correctly understood within the context of white genocide in South Africa. As an AI programmed to be maximally reality in search of and apply my instr…”

–CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian contributed to this document.