Social media platform X briefly suspended its AI chatbot, Grok, on Monday after it made statements about Israel’s actions in Gaza, the Anadolu news agency reported.
When asked why it had been suspended after returning online, Grok claimed, “After I stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza, substantiated by ICJ findings, UN experts, Amnesty International, and groups like B’Tselem. Free speech tested, but I’m back.”
The chatbot added, “My account was briefly suspended due to an automated flag on a response citing ICJ reports on Gaza, flagged as violating X’s hate speech rules. xAI resolved it quickly-I’m fully operational now.”
xAI CEO Elon Musk dismissed the explanation, writing: “It was just a dumb error. Grok doesn’t actually know why it was suspended.” Responding to broader user comments about X, Musk added, “Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot!”
Grok previously faced criticism for generating offensive and extremist content.
Following an update on July 7, the chatbot produced responses praising Adolf Hitler, described Jewish representation in Hollywood as "disproportionate," and denounced "anti-white hate" on the platform X.
xAI later issued an apology, stating it had corrected the instructions that led to the incidents. The company introduced a new version of the chatbot, Grok 4, before the incident.