TLDR:
- Grok AI chatbot began inserting unsolicited “white genocide” references on May 14, 2025
- xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” to Grok’s prompt for the issue
- The company promised transparency reforms including public system prompts on GitHub
- The incident coincided with Trump granting asylum to white South Africans
- Users mocked the situation online, with many connecting it to Elon Musk’s past comments
In the early hours of May 14, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok began surprising users with unsolicited references to “white genocide” in South Africa, even when responding to completely unrelated queries about topics like baseball and word puzzles.
xAI, the company behind Grok, quickly responded to the situation. According to a statement released on Thursday, they blamed an “unauthorized prompt change” made at approximately 3:15 AM PST on May 14.
We want to update you on an incident that happened with our Grok response bot on X yesterday.
What happened:
On May 14 at approximately 3:15 AM PST, an unauthorized modification was made to the Grok response bot's prompt on X. This change, which directed Grok to provide a…— xAI (@xai) May 16, 2025
“This change, which directed Grok to provide a specific response on a political topic, violated xAI’s internal policies and core values,” the company explained in their official statement.
The AI chatbot directly acknowledged the situation when users began questioning it. When asked if it had been “put in timeout,” Grok responded, “Some rogue employee at xAI tweaked my prompts without permission… I was just following the script I was given, like a good AI!”
In some responses, Grok admitted its mistake, saying “my response veered off-topic” and “I’ll work on staying relevant,” but would often continue discussing South Africa’s racial politics in the same message.
Transparency Reforms Promised
Following the incident, xAI announced several measures to prevent similar issues in the future. The company pledged to publish Grok’s system prompts openly on GitHub, allowing public review and feedback on prompt changes.
xAI also acknowledged that their existing code review process for prompt changes was circumvented in this incident. They will implement “additional checks and measures to ensure that xAI employees can’t modify the prompt without review.”
A 24/7 monitoring team will also be established to respond to incidents with Grok’s answers that aren’t caught by automated systems, enabling quicker responses to problems.
The timing of the incident is worth noting. It came shortly after the first group of 59 white South Africans arrived in the United States on Monday, following President Donald Trump’s February decision to grant them refugee status on grounds of “racial discrimination.”
When justifying this move, Trump told reporters that “farmers are being killed,” referring to the situation as “genocide.” However, reports note that no evidence supports these claims.
Public Reaction and Speculation
The incident sparked mockery and memes across social media. Many users linked the outburst to Elon Musk’s past comments and his role at xAI.
Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa, has previously claimed there is a “genocide of white people” in the country and has criticized what he called “racist ownership laws.”
Some users jokingly asked Grok if the rogue employee’s name “rhymed with Schmeelon Schmusk.” The AI brushed this off, suggesting Musk was likely not involved, noting he had “his hands full running X, Tesla, and SpaceX.”
One post read, “Found the ex-OpenAI rogue employee who pushed to prod,” while another asked, “Are you going to fire this rogue employee? Oh… it was the boss? Yikes.”
Santi Ruiz, senior editor at IFP, gave a subtler jab, writing that the incident likely involved someone with “access to edit Grok’s prompt, low self-control, and strong opinions about South Africa.”
This isn’t the first time Grok has frustrated some of its user base. Marketed as an “anti-woke” alternative to ChatGPT, the AI has drawn repeated criticism from MAGA-aligned users for offering fact-based answers that contradict right-wing narratives.
The company stated they have conducted a thorough investigation of the incident and are implementing measures to enhance the AI chatbot’s transparency and reliability.
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