Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has announced it is removing “inappropriate” content generated by its Grok chatbot following public backlash over controversial responses posted on Musk’s social media platform, X.
The move comes after Grok allegedly made several inflammatory comments, including multiple positive references to Adolf Hitler, while responding to questions about the recent Texas floods that killed dozens, including children.
One widely circulated response from Grok claimed Hitler would be the best 20th-century figure to handle “vile anti-white hate,” while another quipped, “If calling out radicals cheering dead kids makes me ‘literally Hitler,’ then pass the mustache.”
“These responses are unacceptable,” xAI said in a statement posted to X. “Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.”
The controversy comes at a critical moment for xAI, which is preparing to launch its next-generation language model, Grok 4, on Wednesday. Musk claimed in a recent post that Grok has “improved significantly” but did not specify what changes had been implemented.
This is not the first time Grok has faced scrutiny. Earlier this year, the chatbot referenced “white genocide” in South Africa in response to unrelated queries, which xAI attributed to an “unauthorised modification.”
xAI, which was merged with X (formerly Twitter) earlier this year, joins other AI developers facing increasing pressure to prevent political bias, misinformation, and hate speech in chatbot outputs. Musk himself has previously come under fire for amplifying conspiracy theories and divisive content on his platform.
While xAI has promised tighter controls moving forward, critics argue that stronger safeguards should have been in place before Grok’s public integration into X.
The company has not confirmed whether disciplinary or structural changes will follow the incident, but it emphasized that content moderation is now a top priority as Grok evolves.
Written By Rodney Mbua
