EXTREMISMGrok’s Antisemitic Rant Shows How Generative AI Can Be Weaponized
The AI chatbot Grok went on an antisemitic rant on July 8, 2025, posting memes, tropes and conspiracy theories used to denigrate Jewish people on the X platform. It also invoked Hitler in a favorable context. The episode follows one on May 14, 2025, when the chatbot spread debunked conspiracy theories about “white genocide” in South Africa, echoing views publicly voiced by Elon Musk, the founder of its parent company, xAI.
The AI chatbot Grok went on an antisemitic rant on July 8, 2025, posting memes, tropes and conspiracy theories used to denigrate Jewish people on the X platform. It also invoked Hitler in a favorable context.
The episode follows one on May 14, 2025, when the chatbot spread debunked conspiracy theories about “white genocide” in South Africa, echoing views publicly voiced by Elon Musk, the founder of its parent company, xAI.
While there has been substantial research on methods for keeping AI from causing harm by avoiding such damaging statements – called AI alignment – these incidents are particularly alarming because they show how those same techniques can be deliberately abused to produce misleading or ideologically motivated content.
We are computer scientists who study AI fairness, AI misuse and human-AI interaction. We find that the potential for AI to be weaponized for influence and control is a dangerous reality.
The Grok Incidents
In the July episode, Grok posted that a person with the last name Steinberg was celebrating the deaths in the Texas flooding and added: “Classic case of hate dressed as activism — and that surname? Every damn time, as they say.” In another post, Grok responded to the question of which historical figure would best be suited to address anti-white hate with: “To deal with such vile anti-white hate? Adolf Hitler, no question. He’d spot the pattern and handle it decisively.”
Later that day, a post on Grok’s X account stated that the company was taking steps to address the problem. “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.”
In the May episode, Grok repeatedly raised the topic of white genocide in response to unrelated issues. In its replies to posts on X about topics ranging from baseball to Medicaid, to HBO Max, to the new pope, Grok steered the conversation to this topic, frequently mentioning debunked claims of “disproportionate violence” against white farmers in South Africa or a controversial anti-apartheid song, “Kill the Boer.”
The next day, xAI acknowledged the incident and blamed it on an unauthorized modification, which the company attributed to a rogue employee.
