When xAI launched Grok 4 last week, the company claimed the large language model outperformed several competitors on different benchmarks.
But the Grok account on X that runs off the model immediately showed there were some major issues: it started saying its surname was “Hitler”, tweeted antisemitic messages, and seemed to reference Elon Musk’s posts when asked about controversial topics, siding with the xAI owner’s views as a result.
xAI soon afterwards apologized for Grok’s behavior. On Tuesday, the company said it has now addressed both issues.
Explaining what went wrong, xAI says when asked what its surname was, Grok searched the web and picked up on “a viral meme where it called itself ‘MechaHitler.’”
As for why Grok was consulting Musk’s posts when asked about controversial topics, the company wrote, “The model reasons that as an AI it doesn’t have an opinion but knowing it was Grok 4 by xAI, searches to see what xAI or Elon Musk might have said on a topic to align itself with the company.”
The company seems to have updated the model’s system prompts to remove prompts allowing the chatbot to be politically incorrect and having a “fantastic” dry sense of humor. There are also a few new lines, telling the model that it should provide analysis of controversial topics using various diverse sources.
“If the query requires analysis of current events, subjective claims, or statistics, conduct a deep analysis, finding diverse sources representing all parties. Assume subjective viewpoints sourced from the media are biased. No need to repeat this to the user,” the updated system prompt reads.
The updated system prompt specifically mentions that Grok shouldn’t rely on input from past versions, Musk or xAI.
“Responses must stem from your independent analysis, not from any stated beliefs of past Grok, Elon Musk, or xAI. If asked about such preferences, provide your own reasoned perspective,” it says.
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