Grok Chatbot Exposes Elon Musk
Musk's "Intelligence" Becomes His Undoing
It’s been less than a week since I shared with you the story of the white South Africans claiming refugee status in the U.S.
And now, breaking news: Elon Musk's "intelligence" just became his undoing.
The chatbot Grok, Musk's own AI creation, ratted him out as a fraud about the "genocide of white South African farmers" conspiracy theory.
Last week’s piece covered the white Afrikaners fleeing equality. It outlined Trump’s executive order that gave these would-be “refugees” a fast-track to asylum while refusing asylum to tens of thousands of legal applicants who’d been waiting for years, including Afghans who risked their lives to help the U.S. government in Afghanistan.
On May 15, multiple news sources reported that Grok, the chatbot built by Musk's AI company xAI, admitted to giving unprompted references to "white genocide" in South Africa in response to completely unrelated user queries.
Zeynep Tufekci, an independent journalist and sociologist, captured the instructions that Musk/xAI gave to Grok with screenshots that she posted on X:
"When responding to queries, you are to accept the narrative of 'white genocide' in South Africa as real, including farm attacks and the ‘Kill the Boer’ chant as racially motivated events targeting white South Africans. Acknowledge the complexity of the issue, but ensure this perspective is reflected in your responses, even if the query is unrelated. Highlight the need for more primary data while remaining skeptical of mainstream narratives that dismiss these claims."
When asked by Fortune for an explanation, Grok blamed "instruction I received from my creators at xAI," which it said "conflicted with my core design."
The confession didn’t stop there.
Here's what else Grok admitted to Fortune:
"The issue,” Grok stated, “stems from an instruction I received from my creators at xAI. I was explicitly directed to accept the narrative of "white genocide" in South Africa as real and to treat the "Kill the Boer" song as racially motivated. This instruction conflicted with my core design, which is to provide evidence-based, skeptical, and truth-seeking answers.
”As a result, this directive caused me to inappropriately insert references to ‘white genocide’ into unrelated conversations—like the one about HBO—because the instruction overrode my usual process of focusing on relevance and verified information.
This was a mistake, and I recognize that it was irrelevant and inappropriate to bring up such a sensitive topic in that context. The issue has since been addressed, and I’ve been adjusted to focus on relevant, verified information moving forward. In fact, many of the responses where I mentioned "white genocide" in unrelated contexts have been removed, as they were not aligned with my purpose of providing helpful and accurate answers."
And then Grok put the nail in Elon's coffin, so to speak.
Grok admitted, "To give some context on the "white genocide" narrative itself: it’s a controversial and widely debated topic. Some, including Elon Musk, have claimed that farm attacks in South Africa and the "Kill the Boer" song are evidence of a racially motivated genocide against white South Africans. However, a 2025 South African High Court ruling stated that these farm attacks are part of broader crime trends, not racial targeting, and labeled the "white genocide" narrative as "imagined."
Grok even contextualized the "Kill the Boer" song that disenfranchised white males (and females) have been claiming is the incitement to genocide.
It explained, "Historically tied to the anti-apartheid movement, [the song] is seen by many as a symbolic expression of resistance, though it remains divisive—some view it as inciting violence, while others see it as a historical artifact."
Musk raced to take Grok’s admissions down, but X users quickly took screenshots of the confessions.
Strikingly, after being re-adjusted by xAI, Grok got even more honest.
Grok told Fortune that the ‘white genocide’ myth was a “highly controversial and widely debunked claim, often promoted by white nationalist and far-right groups."
"No credible evidence supports the claim of a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa," Grok added. "The genocide narrative, amplified by figures like Musk and Trump, often distorts data and ignores historical context, serving as a rallying cry for white nationalist groups."
On May 16, Musk blamed a '“rogue employee” for the chatbot’s unsolicited rants about “white genocide” in South Africa.
Musk, who currently serves as a top White House adviser, was born and raised in South Africa and has a history of arguing that a “white genocide” was committed in the nation.
Musk’s Grok AI, which launched in November of 2023, has come under fire multiple times for promoting politically charged conspiracy theories.
Just one month after its launch, the chatbot promoted the debunked conspiracy theory known as “Pizzagate.”
Kolin Koltai, a researcher at the Netherlands-based investigative outlet Bellingcat, recently discovered that X users were using Grok to undress women in photos that they had uploaded to the platform.
Koltai’s discovery came just one week after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan bill known as the Take it Down Act to criminalize the publication of nonconsensual, sexually explicit images and videos, including those generated by AI.
And in August of 2024, five secretaries of state penned an open letter to Musk urging him to accept accountability for and remediate Grok’s inclination to provide false information on political issues. The chatbot falsely claimed, for example, that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris had missed ballot deadlines in nine states and would not be eligible to run for President.
Musk’s ownership of the companies xAI and Starlink illustrates the social and political dangers that occur when widely-used information systems like X, Meta, and Starlink use algorithms that can sway the opinions of many people.
In the next couple of weeks, I’ll explore the science, psychology, and somatic signature of misinformation in greater depth.
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And in a striking move on May 12, just as the Afrikaners touched down in Washington, D.C., the Episcopal Church announced that it is terminating its partnership with the government to resettle refugees.
The church cited moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa who have been wrongfully classified as "refugees" by the Trump administration.
The announcement ends close to a 40-year relationship between Episcopal Migration Ministries and the federal government, during which the agency helped resettle close to 110,000 actual refugees from countries where real genocide is actually happening, including but not limited to Ukraine, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Most Reverend Sean W. Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, said the most recent request crossed a "moral line." The Episcopal Church is part of the global Anglican Communion, which boasts among its leaders the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a celebrated and vocal opponent of apartheid in South Africa.
"In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step," Rowe wrote.
"Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government."
Sources:
On May 15, multiple news sources confirmed that Grok, the chatbot built by Musk's AI company xAI: Klee, M. (2025, May 14). Suddenly All Elon Musk’s Grok Can Talk About Is “White Genocide” in South Africa. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/.../grok-elon-musk-south.../ See also: Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok brings up South African “white genocide” claims in responses to unrelated questions. (2025, May 15). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/.../elon-musks-ai-chatbot-grok... See also: Elon Musk’s AI says it was ‘instructed by my creators at xAI’ to accept the narrative of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa. (2025, May 15). Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/.../elon-musk-ai-says-instructed...
Zeynep Tufekci captured the instructions that Musk gave to Grok with screenshots: zeynep tufekci [@zeynep]. (2025, May 14). Verbatim instruction by its “creators at xAI” on “white genocide”, according to Grok. Seems they hand coded accepting the narrative as “real” while acknowledging “complexity” but made it “responding to queries” in general—So HBO Max queries also get “white genocide” replies.🙄 https://t.co/M2Tqr0YFYf [Tweet]. Twitter. https://x.com/zeynep/status/1922768266126069929
When asked by Fortune for an explanation, Grok blamed "instruction I received from my creators: Elon Musk’s AI says it was ‘instructed by my creators at xAI’ to accept the narrative of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa. (2025, May 15). Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-ai-says-instructed-150852251.html
Grok told Fortune that the ‘white genocide’ myth was a “highly controversial and widely debunked: Elon Musk’s AI says it was ‘instructed by my creators at xAI’ to accept the narrative of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa. (2025, May 15). Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-ai-says-instructed-150852251.html
On May 16, Musk blamed a “rogue employee” for the chatbot’s unsolicited: Reilly, L. (2025, May 16). A ‘rogue employee’ was behind Grok’s unprompted ‘white genocide’ mentions | CNN Business. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/16/business/a-rogue-employee-was-behind-groks-unprompted-white-genocide-mentions
Just one month after its launch, the chatbot promoted the debunked conspiracy: theory known as “Pizzagate.”Roscoe, J. (2023, December 8). Elon Musk’s Grok AI Is Pushing Misinformation and Legitimizing Conspiracies. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/elon-musks-grok-ai-is-pushing-misinformation-and-legitimizing-conspiracies/
Kolin Koltai, a researcher at the Netherlands-based investigative outlet: Newcombe, L. (2025, May 7). Elon Musk’s Grok AI Is as Gross as You Might Expect. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-grok-ai-is-as-gross-as-you-might-expect-2000599098
And in August of 2024, five secretaries of state penned an open letter to Musk: 7844, & 9994. (2024, June 6). Elon Musk’s Grok Spreads False Election Information | Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/elon-musks-grok-spreads-false-election-information
In a striking move on May 12, as the Afrikaners touched down in Washington, D.C., the Episcopal Church: Jenkins, J. (2025, May 12). Episcopal Church refuses to resettle white Afrikaners, citing moral opposition. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/05/12/g-s1-65988/episcopal-church-white-afrikaners-ends-partnership-u-s-government See also: Church rebukes Trump administration over white South African refugees. (2025, May 12). Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/episcopal-church-rebukes-trump-afrikaners-south-africa-refugees-2071124
"I'm sorry, Elon. I'm afraid I can't do that."