Billionaire Elon Musk-led social media platform
Grok, the AI chatbot, is reportedly generating racist and hate-filled posts online. Several users on The posts were generated after users prompted Grok to make “vulgar” remarks.
The report suggests that X users are increasingly prompting Grok to produce vulgar responses, particularly targeting Hinduism, Islam, and groups of football fans. An analysis by sky news found that some AI-generated replies contained highly offensive language and profanities about Hinduism and Islam, disparaging the religions with racist remarks.
UK government slams Grok’s offensive posts
The UK government on Sunday (local time) described the posts as “sickening and irresponsible,” saying they go against British values.
The posts appear to be part of a growing online trend in recent days in which X users ask the platform to generate “vulgar” and unfiltered comments.
A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said that AI services, including chatbots that allow users to share content, fall under the Online Safety Act and are required to prevent illegal material, including hateful and abusive content. They added that authorities will continue to take decisive action “where it is deemed that AI services are not doing enough to ensure safe user experiences.”
The development comes nearly two months after the Musk-led platform faced the threat of a ban from the UK government following the emergence of AI-generated sexualised images depicting women being undressed.
Grok blames Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster
The Sky News report also said the AI tool falsely blamed fans of Liverpool FC for the Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 supporters died, and used derogatory language about the city.
Although police initially blamed Liverpool supporters for causing the tragedy, that claim was later discredited after decades of campaigning by victims’ families.
Following the posts, Liverpool officials are now seeking to have the content removed.
X deletes offensive posts
Although sky newsthere has been no indication of changes to the platform’s policies aimed at preventing online harm when Grok is prompted to produce “vulgar” responses.
This comes a day after Musk wrote on X: “Only Grok speaks the truth. Only truthful AI is safe.”
Crackdown on Grok continues
According to reutersgovernments and regulators have been cracking down on sexually explicit content generated by Grok. Investigations, bans, and calls for safeguards reflect a growing global effort to curb illegal material online.
In January this year, xAI announced that it had limited Grok’s image-editing features for certain users and blocked others, based on their location, from creating images of people in revealing clothing in regions where such content is prohibited. The company did not disclose which countries were impacted.
