Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot from Musk's xAI, responded to a series of social media posts about enterprise software, baseball salaries and selfies by explaining why claims of "white genocide" in the country are "highly debated".
"Switching enterprise software is hard, like swapping your favourite Lego castle for wooden blocks," Grok replied to one user on the X social media platform, before abruptly shifting topics a few sentences later. "I'm unsure about the South Africa claims, as evidence is conflicting. Courts and analysts deny 'white genocide', but some groups insist it's real."
While it's unclear what caused the apparent glitch, subtle tweaks under the hood of an AI system can cause it to behave in unpredictable and controversial ways.
Grok has been called out before for questionnable responses. Earlier this year, social media users noticed the chatbot specifically tried to avoid mentioning Musk or President Donald Trump when asked about the biggest spreaders of misinformation. The issue was later fixed.