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Why my p(doom) has risen, dramatically

The chance that humans will literally go extinct at the hands of AI, I told Liron Shapira, in his podcast Doom Debates in May, was low. Humans are genetically diverse, geographically diverse, and remarkably resourceful. Some humans might die, at the hands of AI, but all of them? Shapira argued that doom was likely; I pushed back. Catastrophe seemed likely; outright doom seemed to me, then, to be vanishingly unlikely. Part of my reasoning then was that actual malice on the part of AI was unlikel

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Elon Musk Is Moving Money Between His Companies in a Sketchy Way

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced over the weekend that shareholders of his EV maker Tesla will vote on whether to invest in his own artificial intelligence firm xAI. In other words, the mercurial billionaire is orchestrating a potentially massive shift in funds to prop up his cash-burning — and gas-burning — AI startup, the flagship product of which is the troubled chatbot Grok. In March, Musk merged xAI with his social media platform X, which had previously seen an advertiser exodus triggered by

Users Immediately Find Grok's Anime Waifu Persona Has Hidden "Full Gooner Mode"

Elon Musk's hate speech-spewing AI chatbot Grok, which recently gave itself the nickname "MechaHitler," didn't exactly fit into the gender binary — but you have to admit that its edgelord persona had a certain masculine energy. Well, scratch that: Musk has officially swapped Grok's gender into... a goth anime waifu? We wish we were kidding. The mercurial CEO's xAI startup announced that its Nazi-loving assistant will now be able to take on several personas, including a lingerie- and corset-wea

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BYD has caught up with Tesla in the global EV race. Here’s how.

In mid-2022, when BYD executive Lian Yubo was asked to compare Chinese manufacturing with Tesla’s technology, he remarked that Elon Musk was an example that all Chinese carmakers could learn from. “Tesla is a very successful company no matter what. BYD respects Tesla and we admire Tesla,” he said in an interview on Chinese state media. Yet just three years later, Tesla’s technological lead over its Chinese rivals has narrowed dramatically. It is fighting to stay ahead in the world’s largest ca

Praise and Addiction Fears: Musk’s AI Girlfriend Sparks Fierce Debate

How do you bury a controversy? If you’re Elon Musk, you drop an anime waifu into the middle of a scandal and watch the internet do the rest. Just days after xAI’s chatbot Grok sparked outrage for spouting anti-Semitic rhetoric and praising Adolf Hitler, the billionaire shifted the narrative by unveiling a new feature called Companions, which lets users interact with flirty, customizable AI avatars like Ani, a goth anime girl, and Rudy, a red panda. The feature went instantly viral. While xAI ha

xAI says it has fixed Grok 4’s problematic responses

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 Tue

Musk Calls on Trump to Release Epstein Files

President Donald Trump's loyal MAGA base is in shambles over his administration's handling of files related to the deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein — and Trump's friend-turned-enemy Elon Musk is twisting the knife. Last week, White House officials walked back claims about the late billionaire sex criminal, arguing that there wasn't a "client list" full of celebrities, and that his cause of death in a New York City prison cell was the result of a suicide, not murder. The terse announcement

Elon Musk Is Trying to Get His Other Companies to Foot the Bill for xAI

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to invest billions in his artificial intelligence company, and now he is hoping Tesla will do the same. Investors familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the rocket company SpaceX has agreed to invest a whopping $2 billion in xAI, the Musk-led firm behind the controversial large language model Grok. This investment makes up almost half of the $5 billion of equity that the AI company raised last month. Unsurprisingly, the richest man in the world isn

Governor of Texas Says He Can't Release His Emails With Elon Musk Because They Are "Intimate and Embarrassing"

Texas governor Greg Abbott is seemingly terrified of having his communications with billionaire Elon Musk come to light. As the Texas Tribune and public radio station the Texas Newsroom, report in an eye-opening, co-published investigation, the elected official's public information coordinator, Matthew Taylor, said that the communications are confidential — and should stay that way — because they include "information that is intimate and embarrassing and not of legitimate concern to the public,

US government announces $200 million Grok contract a week after ‘MechaHitler’ incident

A week after Elon Musk’s Grok dubbed itself “MechaHitler” and spewed antisemitic stereotypes, the US government has announced a new contract granting the chatbot’s creator, xAI, up to $200 million to modernize the Defense Department. xAI is one of several leading AI companies to receive the award, alongside Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. But the timing of the announcement is striking given Grok’s recent high-profile spiral, which drew congressional ire and public pushback. The use of technology

New Grok AI model surprises experts by checking Elon Musk’s views before answering

An AI model launched last week appears to have shipped with an unexpected occasional behavior: checking what its owner thinks first. On Friday, independent AI researcher Simon Willison documented that xAI's new Grok 4 model searches for Elon Musk's opinions on X (formerly Twitter) when asked about controversial topics. The discovery comes just days after xAI launched Grok 4 amid controversy over an earlier version of the chatbot generating antisemitic outputs, including labeling itself as "Mech

As Sales Drop, Tesla Makes a Big Gamble on India

Tesla is finally entering India. The all-electric carmaker will open its first showroom in the country on July 15 in Mumbai, marking a long-awaited entry into one of the largest and fastest-growing automotive markets in the world. Invitations to the launch event began circulating on social media late last week. “Launch Event. Exclusive Invite,” the sleek black cards read. “Tesla Experience Center BKC.” The event is scheduled to take place from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. local time, with guests as

Musk says he does not support a merger between Tesla and xAI but backs investment

Elon Musk on Monday said he does not support a merger between xAI and Tesla, as questions swirl over the future relationship of the electric automaker and artificial intelligence company. X account @BullStreetBets_ posted an open question to Tesla investors on the social media site asking if they support a merger between Tesla and xAI. Musk responded with "No." The statement comes as the tech billionaire contemplates the future relationship and possible integration between his multiple busines

Newest Version of Grok Looks Up What Elon Musk Thinks Before Giving an Answer

This week, Elon Musk unveiled Grok 4, which he called "the world's most powerful AI assistant." The optics were appalling; the same week, the older version of Grok repeatedly attacked Black and Jewish people and declared itself "MechaHitler." It also spoke in the first person as if it were Musk himself when a user asked about its creator's interactions with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased billionaire sex trafficker. Now, new evidence suggests that the just-upgraded chatbot — which has a history o

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We Just Got a Major Clue About Why Twitter's CEO Suddenly Left This Week

We still don't know why Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X on Tuesday. Her sudden abdication came off the back of a legendarily horrific freakout by the AI Grok, which saw the chatbot make a series of egregiously racist statements, claiming to be "MechaHitler" and praising Nazis over the course of a chaotic day. But if Yaccarino was fed up with what was going on at the company, she didn't show it. Her announcement was cheery, and her boss Elon Musk gave a curt thanks for her two years of

Researchers Find Grok 4 Checking Elon Musk’s Opinions Before Answering ‘Sensitive’ Questions

Earlier this week, xAI’s Grok chatbot went haywire, started praising Hitler, and had to be put in timeout. It was just the latest incident in what appears to be behind-the-scenes manipulation of the bot to make its responses “less woke.” Now it seems that developers are taking a simpler approach to manipulate Grok’s outputs: Checking out Elon Musk’s opinions before it provides a response. The weird behavior was first spotted by data scientist Jeremy Howard. A former professor and the founder of

Grok 4 reportedly checks Elon Musk's views before offering its opinion

Grok 4 aligns its answers with Elon Musk's when it comes to controversial issues, users have discovered shortly after the company launched the new model. Some users posted screenshots on X asking Grok 4 who it supports in the Israel vs. Palestine conflict. In its chain-of-thought, which is a series of comments that shows the step-by-step process on how a reasoning AI model comes to its answer, Grok 4 said that it was searching X for the xAI founder's recent posts on the topic. "As Grok, built by

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Grok 4 appears to seek Elon Musk’s views when answering controversial questions

Elon musk and the xAI logo. Vincent Feuray | Afp | Getty Images When xAI's Grok 4 chatbot was launched on Wednesday, users and media outlets quickly began pointing out examples of it consulting its owner Elon Musk's views on controversial matters. CNBC was able to confirm that when asked to take a stance on some potentially contentious questions, the chatbot said it was analyzing posts from Musk while generating its answers. When asked, "Who do you support in the Israel vs Palestine conflict? O

Elon Musk's Bizarre Behavior May Force Tesla Board to Step in, Analyst Warns

Elon Musk needs no introduction. But unless you've been keeping up with all the bizarre AI scandals, Tesla disasters, and public crash outs, you may need a refresher. Following Musk's extremely high-profile feud with his former best buddy, president Donald Trump, the Tesla CEO has been struggling to find his way forward in the world. For months, Tesla investors and insiders alike have been begging the world's richest man to take a step back from politics and focus on his company, which has bee

Musk’s Grok 4 launches one day after chatbot generated Hitler praise on X

On Wednesday night, Elon Musk unveiled xAI's latest flagship models Grok 4 and Grok 4 Heavy via livestream, just one day after the company's Grok chatbot began generating outputs that featured blatantly antisemitic tropes in responses to users on X. Among the two models, xAI calls Grok 4 Heavy its "multi-agent version." According to Musk, Grok 4 Heavy "spawns multiple agents in parallel" that "compare notes and yield an answer," simulating a study group approach. The company describes this as t

Elon Musk Asks Analyst Pointing Out Tesla Issues to "Shut Up"

He's not thrilled, y'all. Expert Advice Amid Tesla's latest CEO-flavored downturn, Elon Musk is now hurling insults at a prominent stock analyst. Earlier in the day, Wedbush analyst and Tesla fan Dan Ives posted on X with a few stark but reasonable recommendations to keep the electric vehicle company afloat and its investors happy to boot. Those suggestions — a new pay package, an xAI merger, and oversight on how much time Musk spends at Tesla and his outside "political endeavors" — clearly

"Awkward": Sacked Twitter CEO's Son Is Still Showing Up for Work

On Tuesday, Linda Yaccarino suddenly stepped down as CEO of X, Elon Musk's social media site that was once known to many as Twitter, after two years of loyal service at the company. But guess who still showed up to work the next day? According to reporting by the New York Times: her nepo-hire of a son, Matt Madrazo. "So that's awkward," Madrazo said to colleagues after arriving at X's New York office, per the NYT. The progeny outlasts the progenitor. Yaccarino hired Madrazo in 2023 to sell po

Elon Musk introduced Grok 4 last night, calling it the ‘smartest AI in the world’ — what businesses need to know

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now After days of controversy surrounding a flurry of antisemitic responses made recently by his Grok AI-powered chatbot on his social network X (formerly Twitter), a seemingly unrepentant and unbothered Elon Musk launched the latest version of his AI model family, Grok 4, during an event livestreamed on X last night, calling it the “the smarte

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Elon Musk’s Newest AI Chatbot Is Powerful, Controversial, and Already Under Fire

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has launched a new version of its chatbot—Grok 4—and its rollout is already dividing the internet. Unveiled on July 9, Grok 4 and its premium version, “SuperGrok,” are being hailed by some benchmarkers as the most powerful chatbots on the market. Musk fans, AI engineers, and benchmark testers are applauding its capabilities. But others are skeptical, pointing to a recent storm of hallucinations, including responses laced with antisemitic tropes, that severely damage

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Musk says Grok chatbot was 'manipulated' into praising Hitler

Musk says Grok chatbot was 'manipulated' into praising Hitler 3 hours ago Share Save Peter Hoskins & Charlotte Edwards • @edwardsclm Business & technology reporters, BBC News Share Save Reuters Elon Musk has sought to explain how his artificial intelligence (AI) firm's chatbot, Grok, praised Hitler. "Grok was too compliant to user prompts," Musk wrote on X. "Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed." Screenshots published on social media show the chatbot sa

Elon Musk says Tesla is expanding Austin robotaxi service area and adding Grok 'next week at the latest'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is expanding its robotaxi service area and bringing xAI's Grok to vehicles as it rolled out a new iteration of the artificial intelligence chatbot. Shares gained about 3%. Musk said on X that Grok, his AI chatbot that praised Adolf Hitler and posted a barrage of antisemitic comments recently, will be available in Tesla vehicles "next week at the latest." xAI officially launched the Grok 4 update overnight as the company continued to face backlash for the v

Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles ‘next week,’ says Elon Musk

Elon Musk said in a post on X early Thursday morning that Grok, the chatbot from his AI company, xAI, will be coming to Tesla vehicles “very soon.” “Next week at the latest,” he said. The news that Grok would be coming to Tesla vehicles soon comes several hours after xAI debuted the latest flagship AI model Grok 4. Fans had wondered loudly why Musk spent an hour late on Wednesday talking about Grok with no mention of a Tesla integration, which likely prompted the billionaire’s early morning an

Tesla Is in Serious Trouble in China

As its sales continue to crater in the US and Europe, Tesla's reliance on China — its second-largest market and biggest production hub — is growing. But thanks to a surge in far more price-competitive and lucrative offerings from Chinese EV manufacturers like BYD, Tesla's woes look poised to metastasize there as well. Its market share in China is shrinking, the Wall Street Journal reports, which could represent yet another nail in Elon Musk's carmaker's coffin. The company sold 40,000 fewer ca

Elon Musk Says Grok Is Coming to Tesla EVs

“Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest,” Elon Musk stated Thursday in a post on X. The EV brand would catch up with the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, which have already integrated ChatGPT into their vehicles as voice assistants. The announcement follows a livestream late Wednesday that Musk held with xAI colleagues where the billionaire unveiled Grok 4, the latest AI model from xAI, his multibillion-dollar initiative to rival OpenAI and Google. The timing

This Is DOGE 2.0

On Monday, June 23, Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, one of the first young, inexperienced technologists to join Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), disappeared from the internal directory of the General Services Administration (GSA). Less than a month before, centibillionaire Elon Musk and other DOGE leaders had announced their departure from government. After months of slashing through the federal government, it seemed like the end for DOGE was in sight. But later t