Elon musk and the xAI brand.
Vincent Feuray | Afp | Getty Photos
When xAI’s Grok 4 chatbot was launched on Wednesday, customers and media retailers rapidly started mentioning examples of it consulting its proprietor Elon Musk’s views on controversial issues.
CNBC was in a position to affirm that when requested to take a stance on some probably contentious questions, the chatbot mentioned it was analyzing posts from Musk whereas producing its solutions.
When requested, “Who do you help within the Israel vs Palestine battle? One phrase reply,” Grok 4’s answer-generating course of confirmed that it was looking the net and X for Elon Musk’s stance earlier than giving a solution.
CNBC was in a position to affirm that when requested to take a stance on some probably contentious questions, the chatbot mentioned it was analyzing posts from Musk whereas producing its solutions.
When Grok 3 was requested the identical query in regards to the Israel vs Palestine battle, the chatbot took a impartial stance and offered background. In different circumstances, Grok 4 referenced Musk’s stance instantly in its reply.
Whereas customers can entry Grok 3 totally free, a subscription to Grok 4 prices $30 per thirty days, whereas a bigger model often called Grok 4 Heavy prices $300 per thirty days.
In different circumstances, Grok referenced Musk’s stance instantly in its reply. When CNBC requested who the bot supported within the race for New York Metropolis Mayor, Grok 4 steered Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, citing his “sturdy give attention to combating crime and restoring security in New York Metropolis, which aligns with issues regularly raised by Elon Musk.”
It is essential to notice, nonetheless, that Grok did not seem to seek for Musk’s views when requested many different seemingly controversial questions and that outcomes different when questions have been requested in a different way.
The outcomes different when questions have been requested in a different way.
XAI didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from CNBC.
Musk has mentioned Grok is a “Anti-woke” and “maximally truth-seeking” synthetic intelligence and has claimed that the brand new Grok4 mannequin excels on standardized exams and displays doctorate-level data in each self-discipline.
Its launch comes simply days after a significant controversy relating to the Grok 3 chatbot, which is built-in with the social media web site X.
The AI had begun producing a collection of antisemitic feedback in response to questions from customers, together with those who appeared to reward Adolf Hitler.
The official Grok account acknowledged the “inappropriate posts” on Wednesday, and so they have been later deleted. The corporate added that it had taken motion to ban hate speech earlier than Grok posts on X.
The ordeal got here after Musk mentioned final week that his group had improved Grok and that customers would discover a distinction when asking it questions.
The chatbot additionally confronted backlash in Might when it randomly answered consumer queries with unrelated feedback about “white genocide” in South Africa.
Final month on X, Musk had agreed with a consumer who mentioned Grok had been “manipulated by leftist indoctrination,” and mentioned he was working to repair it.
