Musk’s xAI Scrambles to Explain Its Chatbot’s White Genocide Rants

WHOOPSIE

The company said a rogue employee had programmed the bot to “provide a specific response on a political topic.”

Published May 16 2025 10:37AM EDT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aims to pool personal, private data on millions of Americans. — Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Elon Musk’s xAI has blamed its Grok chatbot’s recent habit of randomly posting about “white genocide” in South Africa on a rogue employee who made an “unauthorized modification” to its system prompt.

Janna Brancolini

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Musk’s xAI Scrambles to Explain Its Chatbot’s White Genocide Rants

The company said a rogue employee had programmed the bot to “provide a specific response on a political topic.”

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Janna Brancolini