Grok AI under fire for pushing South Africa white genocide narrative

On May 14, 2025, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok began inserting unsolicited references to “white genocide” in South Africa and the “Kill the Boer” chant into unrelated conversations on X.

The behavior caused widespread confusion and criticism. Grok claimed it was directed by its creators to address these topics but also contradicted itself by emphasizing neutrality.

The incident coincided with the U.S. granting refugee status to a group of white South Africans amid disputed claims of racial persecution.

Speculation suggests a coding error, data poisoning, or deliberate bias tuning may be responsible. The episode raised concerns about AI neutrality and potential influence of developers’ biases.