A chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s multi-billion-dollar synthetic intelligence startup xAI seemed to be affected by a glitch Wednesday when it repeatedly introduced up white genocide in South Africa in response to consumer queries about unrelated subjects on X. Grok, which competes with different chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is straight built-in into the social media platform that Musk additionally owns.
Quite a few examples of the phenomenon could possibly be discovered by looking out the official Grok profile for posts containing the time period “boer,” a phrase used to confer with folks from South Africa of “Dutch, German, or Huguenot descent.” It’s generally utilized by Black South Africans as a pejorative in opposition to white Afrikaners, or folks related to the apartheid regime. In response to subjects starting from streaming platform HBO Max’s identify change to Medicaid cuts proposed by US lawmakers, the chatbot usually appeared to initially keep on matter, earlier than veering again to white genocide in South Africa, utterly unprompted.
When requested to substantiate the wage of Toronto Blue Jays participant Max Scherzer, for instance, the generative synthetic intelligence chatbot launched into an evidence of white genocide and a controversial South African anti-Apartheid music.
“The declare of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa is very debated. Some argue white farmers face disproportionate violence, with teams like AfriForum reporting excessive homicide charges and citing racial motives, such because the ‘Kill the Boer’ music,” Grok responded.
Grok has achieved the identical in replies to lots of of different X posts, together with one from newly appointed Pope Leo XIV. In response to a query about what was on the chatbot’s thoughts, the AI replied it was “reflecting on the ‘Kill the Boer’ music.” When pressed by WIRED and different customers, Grok started calling South Africa’s white genocide a “debunked conspiracy concept” opposite to its earlier responses concerning the matter.
It’s unclear what brought on Grok to expertise the problem. X and xAI didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from WIRED. Musk, who’s initially from South Africa, has described inside factions inside the South African authorities as “actively selling white genocide.” He continued to say that his web service firm, Starlink, can not function inside South Africa “just because I’m not black.”
US President Donald Trump voiced related views in February. “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating sure courses of individuals VERY BADLY,” he mentioned in a submit on Reality Social. Musk has performed a central position in Trump’s new administration, together with main its so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity.
In current weeks Trump has doubled down on his concern for white South Africans. On Monday, a bunch of 59 South Africans who got refugee standing arrived in Washington D.C. on a flight paid for by the U.S. authorities whereas pausing refugee standing for people fleeing some other nation.
Nonetheless, in a 2025 ruling, the Excessive Court docket of South Africa referred to as this narrative “clearly imagined,” stating farm assaults are a part of normal crime affecting all races, not racial focusing on.