Elon Musk's xAI confirms an 'unauthorized modification' caused the chatbot's political outbursts. The issue highlights how AI systems are direct reflections of the people behind them.

Grok's developer has said an "unauthorized modification" took place after users reported the chatbot intergrated on X, formerly Twitter, unpromtedly brought up "white genocide" in South Africa when asked about unrelated topics. xAI said the change violated its "internal policies and core values."

After xAI’s chatbot Grok spent a few hours on Wednesday telling every X user that would listen that the claim of white genocide in South Africa is highly contentious, the company has blamed the behavior on an “unauthorized modification” to Grok’s code.