Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok blamed unsanctioned changes to its system for responses this week that included controversial theories about “white genocide” in South Africa.

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, the AI model from Elon Musk’s xAI, was sending strange responses to people on X earlier on Wednesday. In responses to a number of people, Grok focused on debunking claims of white genocide in South Africa – even when tagged into a post about totally unrelated topics.