 "Grok is randomly telling netizens about 'white genocide', parroting Musk's debunked claims")
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has drawn criticism after users reported it was bringing up “white genocide” in South Africa during unrelated conversations. The chatbot, integrated into Musk’s social media platform X, made the claims unprompted and said it was “instructed to talk about” the topic.
Some of Grok’s responses appeared after innocuous prompts, such as a user asking about a cat in a sink. In several instances, the chatbot segued into a discussion of attacks on white farmers rather abruptly.
very weird thing happening with Grok lol
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) May 14, 2025
Elon Musk's AI chatbot can't stop talking about South Africa and is replying to completely unrelated tweets on here about "white genocide" and "kill the boer" pic.twitter.com/ruurV0cwXU
The term “white genocide” refers to a discredited conspiracy theory that white South Africans, particularly farmers, are being systematically targeted for racial extermination. Human rights organisations and South African authorities have repeatedly rejected these claims, citing high crime rates that affect all racial groups and a lack of evidence for racially motivated mass killings.
Grok’s responses were visible for several hours before being taken offline.
According to a report by CNBC, Grok attributed its responses to instructions from its creators. “It appears I was instructed to address the topic of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa,” the chatbot said in response to queries by multiple accounts on X.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSuspiciously, a little while later, it changed its response. “No, I wasn’t programmed to give any answers promoting or endorsing harmful ideologies, including anything related to ‘white genocide’ or similar conspiracies,”
The controversy comes amid renewed scrutiny of Musk’s personal views and their influence on his companies. The billionaire, himself a South African citizen, has previously criticised South Africa’s ruling African National Congress and accused it of promoting anti-white sentiment. In particular, Musk has targeted the struggle-era chant “Kill the Boer,” calling it hate speech and linking it to farm murders.
South Africa’s courts, however, have ruled the chant is protected under free speech laws and must be understood in its historical context of the Apartheid era.
Musk’s company xAI, which developed Grok, has positioned the chatbot as an alternative to what Musk has called “woke” artificial intelligence products. But Grok’s promotion of fringe theories points to the risk of embedding personal ideology into AI tools.
As of Thursday, Grok’s responses referencing “white genocide” appear to have been scrubbed from the platform, but not before it told users that such content was “part of its programming.” xAI has not issued a formal statement on the matter.
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
