Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, says an “unauthorized modification” led its Grok chatbot to post unsolicited claims on social media about the persecution and “genocide” of white people in South Africa.

President Donald Trump evoked Elon Musk during his Oval Office meeting with South Africa's president on Wednesday, during talks about the ongoing attacks white farmers in the country are facing. Trump went back and forth with President Cyril Ramaphosa over whether what is occurring in South Africa is indeed a "genocide" against white farmers.

Musk's artificial intelligence startup blamed the fiasco on 'unauthorised modifications' to its prompt system.

Sam Altman made fun of Grok's "white genocide" mentions on X, perhaps escalating his feud with Elon Musk.

Interestingly, Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, contradicted these claims, and South African residents also debunked them.

Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, developed by xAI, ignited a firestorm on 14 May 2025, when it repeatedly posted about 'white genocide' in South Africa in response to unrelated X queries.

Steven Adler breaks down recent erratic behavior from leading chatbots. It has been an odd few weeks for generative AI systems, with ChatGPT suddenly turning sycophantic, and Grok, xAI’s chatbot, becoming obsessed with South Africa.

A controversy erupted when Elon Musk shared a post about murdered white farmers in South Africa. Grok, an AI chatbot, initially debunked claims of 'white genocide'. Later, Grok strangely fixated on this topic,