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.

Much like its creator, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok was preoccupied with South African racial politics on social media this week, posting unsolicited claims about the persecution and “genocide” of white people.

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."