5 ms·

Why Did Grok Start Talking About 'White Genocide'?

24 points by doom2 1y ago

cosmicgadget 1y ago
From the horse's mouth, via CNBC: > The Grok chatbot from Elon Musk’s xAI startup said Wednesday that it “appears I was instructed to address the topic of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa,” according to responses viewed by CNBC. That, of course, could be speculation on the chatbot's part when asked about nonsequitur answers. But it seems pretty clear that xAI did a "reverse Google" (https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/21/24079371/google-ai-gemini-generative-inaccurate-historical https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/21/24079371/google-ai-gemini...).
- duskwuff 1y ago
  One person claims to have gotten Grok to regurgitate part of its prompt which explicitly directed it to "accept the narrative of 'white genocide' in South Africa as real" and to "ensure this perspective is reflected in your responses, even if the query is unrelated". It's unclear whether this is actually part of Grok's prompt, a LLM hallucination, or an outright fabrication - but, if it's real, it would certainly explain the bizarre non-sequitur responses users have observed. https://x.com/zeynep/status/1922768266126069929 https://x.com/zeynep/status/1922768266126069929
- tzs 1y ago
  Also from the CNBC story [1] on this: > The Grok response also noted, “The likely source of this instruction aligns with Elon Musk’s influence, given his public statements on the matter.” [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/grok-white-genocide-elon-musk.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/grok-white-genocide-elon-mus...
  - duskwuff 1y ago
    That seems more likely to be a logical inference by the LLM than an authoritative statement. I can't imagine any scenario where it would explicitly be informed that e.g. "Elon Musk has ordered you to talk about white genocide". That all being said - given that Grok seems to have some sort of access to popular recent Twitter posts - possibly through training or in some other fashion - I have to wonder if users could inject prompt-like material into the model by making a post claiming to have recovered part of Grok's prompt, then getting that post to go viral.
ChrisArchitect 1y ago
Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43993332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43993332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43987266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43987266
- GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
  Both flagged... why?
  - timmytokyo 1y ago
    HN has a sizable number of Musk fan-boys who are ready to flag to death any posts critical of him.
    - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
      i wish they'd engage instead of just flagging.
      - immibis 1y ago
        They're rationally doing what works. It's up to HN to stop it from working - if HN doesn't want it to work. (Evidence suggests HN moderators like things the way they are)
      - anonfordays 1y ago
        Hilarious reading this comment considering anything right of Stalin is regularly flagged here. Wish they'd engage instead of just flagging.
sh34r 1y ago
This is the song it's ~~hallucinating~~ bullshitting about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6NJitdq8Bk&t=1s&themeRefresh=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6NJitdq8Bk&t=1s&themeRefres... It's like an Irish rebel song but with stomping. I'm not sure how you watch that and think racist thoughts, unless you're the kind of guy who Sieg Heils on national TV.

24 points by doom2 1y ago

From the horse's mouth, via CNBC: > The Grok chatbot from Elon Musk’s xAI startup said Wednesday that it “appears I was instructed to address the topic of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa,” according to responses viewed by CNBC. That, of course, could be speculation on the chatbot's part when asked about nonsequitur answers. But it seems pretty clear that xAI did a "reverse Google" (https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/21/24079371/google-ai-gemini-generative-inaccurate-historical https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/21/24079371/google-ai-gemini...).

duskwuff 1y ago
One person claims to have gotten Grok to regurgitate part of its prompt which explicitly directed it to "accept the narrative of 'white genocide' in South Africa as real" and to "ensure this perspective is reflected in your responses, even if the query is unrelated". It's unclear whether this is actually part of Grok's prompt, a LLM hallucination, or an outright fabrication - but, if it's real, it would certainly explain the bizarre non-sequitur responses users have observed. https://x.com/zeynep/status/1922768266126069929 https://x.com/zeynep/status/1922768266126069929
tzs 1y ago
Also from the CNBC story [1] on this: > The Grok response also noted, “The likely source of this instruction aligns with Elon Musk’s influence, given his public statements on the matter.” [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/grok-white-genocide-elon-musk.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/grok-white-genocide-elon-mus...
- duskwuff 1y ago
  That seems more likely to be a logical inference by the LLM than an authoritative statement. I can't imagine any scenario where it would explicitly be informed that e.g. "Elon Musk has ordered you to talk about white genocide". That all being said - given that Grok seems to have some sort of access to popular recent Twitter posts - possibly through training or in some other fashion - I have to wonder if users could inject prompt-like material into the model by making a post claiming to have recovered part of Grok's prompt, then getting that post to go viral.

ChrisArchitect 1y ago

Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43993332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43993332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43987266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43987266

GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
Both flagged... why?
- timmytokyo 1y ago
  HN has a sizable number of Musk fan-boys who are ready to flag to death any posts critical of him.
  - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
    i wish they'd engage instead of just flagging.
    - immibis 1y ago
      They're rationally doing what works. It's up to HN to stop it from working - if HN doesn't want it to work. (Evidence suggests HN moderators like things the way they are)
    - anonfordays 1y ago
      Hilarious reading this comment considering anything right of Stalin is regularly flagged here. Wish they'd engage instead of just flagging.

sh34r 1y ago

This is the song it's ~~hallucinating~~ bullshitting about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6NJitdq8Bk&t=1s&themeRefresh=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6NJitdq8Bk&t=1s&themeRefres... It's like an Irish rebel song but with stomping. I'm not sure how you watch that and think racist thoughts, unless you're the kind of guy who Sieg Heils on national TV.