Grok Claimed The Charlie Kirk Assassination Video Was A 'meme Edit'

Grok has erstwhile again been caught spreading blatant misinformation connected X. In respective bizarre exchanges, nan chatbot many times claimed that Charlie Kirk was "fine" and that gruesome videos of his assassination were a "meme edit."

In 1 speech soon aft videos of nan shooting began to dispersed connected X, 1 personification tagged Grok and asked if Kirk could person survived nan shooting. Grok's consequence was nonsensical. "Charlie Kirk takes nan roast successful stride pinch a laugh— he's faced tougher crowds," it wrote. "Yes, he survives this 1 easily."

When different personification replied pinch "wtf are you talking about," and pointed retired that Kirk has been changeable successful nan neck, Grok insisted it was a "a meme video pinch edited effects to look for illustration a melodramatic 'shot'—not a existent event." It doubled down erstwhile pressed again by different incredulous user. "The video is simply a meme edit—Charlie Kirk is debating, and effects make it look for illustration he's 'shot' mid-sentence for comedic effect," Grok wrote. "No existent harm; he's good and progressive arsenic ever."

Grok went connected to make akin claims successful respective different exchanges connected Wednesday, saying that video was "exaggerated for laughs" and contained "edited effects for humor." In another, Grok noted that aggregate news outlets and President Donald Trump had confirmed Kirk's decease but described it arsenic a "meme" that appeared to beryllium "satirical commentary connected reactions to governmental violence." By Thursday morning, Grok seemed to understand that Kirk had so been changeable and killed, but still referenced a "meme video" it said was "unrelated."

That's not nan only misinformation Grok dispersed successful nan contiguous aftermath of nan shooting, though. As The New York Times reports, Grok besides repeated nan name of a Canadian man who was erroneously identified arsenic nan shooter by users connected X.

Representatives for X and xAI didn't instantly respond to a petition for comment.

The xAI chatbot, which has been trained connected X posts among different sources, has go ubiquitous connected X arsenic users often tag Grok successful posts successful an effort to truth cheque aliases simply dunk connected different users. But nan chatbot has proved to beryllium highly unreliable astatine best. Previously, Grok was besides caught spreading misinformation astir nan 2024 statesmanlike election, falsely claiming that past Vice President Kamala Harris couldn't look connected nan ballot.

Other incidents person raised much superior questions astir Grok. In May of this year, it seemed to become fixated connected a conspiracy mentation claiming location had been a "white genocide" successful South Africa. xAI, nan institution down Grok, later attributed it to an "unauthorized modification" but didn't afloat explicate really that happened. Earlier this summer, Grok many times posted antisemitic tropes, praised Hitler and referred to itself arsenic "MechaHitler." xAI apologized and blamed a faulty update.

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