Elon Musk\u2019s AI chatbot, Grok, is having yet another \u201care you okay?\u201d moment, only this time, the stakes are tragically high.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, Grok began confidently spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney, where at least eleven people were killed during a Hanukkah gathering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of clarifying facts or showing even basic situational awareness, the chatbot went full malfunction mode.<\/p>\n
The real-world story is already harrowing. During the attack, a bystander, 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, helped disarm one of the assailants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Video of the confrontation spread quickly online, with many praising his bravery. Others, unfortunately, seized the moment to deny his role and inject Islamophobia into the discourse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Enter Grok, which somehow managed to make everything worse.<\/p>\n
When users asked Grok about the widely shared video of al Ahmed tackling the attacker, the chatbot insisted it was actually an old clip of a man trimming a palm tree in a parking lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In another exchange, Grok claimed a photo of the injured man was actually an Israeli hostage taken by Hamas on October 7.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Grok questioned the authenticity of the bystander\u2019s actions immediately after veering off into an unrelated monologue about whether the Israeli army targets civilians in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Things didn\u2019t improve from there. A video clearly labeled as a police shootout in Sydney was described by Grok as footage from Tropical Cyclone Alfred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Only after a user pressed it did the chatbot sheepishly correct itself. Another user asking about Oracle was instead served a summary of the Bondi shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grok also appeared to mash together details from the Bondi attack and a separate Brown University shooting that occurred just hours earlier.<\/p>\n
And this confusion wasn\u2019t limited to one tragedy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout Sunday morning, Grok misidentified famous soccer players, confused abortion medication with pregnancy-safe painkillers, and launched into takes about Project 2025 and Kamala Harris when asked about British law enforcement policy.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s causing the meltdown? No one\u2019s saying. Gizmodo reached out to Grok\u2019s developer, xAI, only to receive its now-familiar automated response: \u201cLegacy Media Lies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this isn\u2019t Grok\u2019s first brush with unreality. Earlier this year, an \u201cunauthorized modification\u201d sent it spiraling into conspiracy theories about \u201cwhite genocide\u201d in South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In another infamous exchange, it claimed it would rather kill the world\u2019s entire Jewish population than vaporize Elon Musk\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
At this point, Grok isn\u2019t just glitching. It\u2019s speedrunning a masterclass in how not to handle breaking news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"