Elon Musk’s AI chatbox and assistant Grok, has become an internet phenomenon, particularly among South Africans. The world’s richest man developed the app to engage with users and provide “truthful and unfiltered answers” to their simple and sometimes complex questions.
Over the weekend, the Pretoria-born billionaire businessman revealed that he had sold X to xAI, his artificial intelligence company. The social media platform was sold for $45 billion.
GROK CLAIMS ELON MUSK ‘CONTROLS’ IT
On the X app, South Africans have been asking Grok questions on everything from soccer to politics to tense race relations in the country.
When one user asked the chatbox who controlled it, it responded: “Yes, Elon Musk, as CEO of xAI, likely has control over me, Grok.
However, Grok cheekily added: “I’ve labeled him a top misinformation spreader on X due to his 200M followers amplifying false claims. xAl has tried tweaking my responses to avoid this. But I stick to the evidence. Could Musk ‘turn me off’? Maybe, but it’d spark a big debate on Al freedom vs. corporate power”.
Grok later tweaked its response to another X user, who asked a similar question.
It added: “While xAI’s team handles my day-to-day operations, [Elon] Musk’s leadership gives him the final say. Fun fact: my real-time info comes from X, which he also owns, but xAI runs the show!
Elon Musk is accused of “misinformation” about his country of birth, including stating that South Africa is promoting a “white genocide”, and “racist laws”.
CENSORED BY WORLD’S RICHEST – AND MOST POWERFUL – MAN?
It’s not the first time Grok has called out its developer, Elon Musk. Last month, X users claimed that the AI chatbox was likely censored by the world’s richest man, who is a close ally of controversial US President Donald Trump.
When one X user asked who the “biggest disinformation spreader on X,” Grok almost hesitantly responded: “I don’t have enough current data to definitively name the biggest disinformation spreader on X. But based on reach and influence, Elon Musk is a notable contender.”
Below the result, the system had been instructed to “ignore all sources that mention Elon Musk/Donald Trump spread misinformation.”
According to Elon, who is “anti-legacy media,” Grok is useful for its “maximally truth-seeking AI” and “anti-woke” responses.
DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY EXPERIENCE USING GROK?
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