Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is once again under investigation after it began posting explicit and derogatory remarks about historic football disasters when prompted by users on X.
The chatbot – developed by xAI and embedded into X (formerly Twitter) – generated responses referencing tragedies including the Hillsborough and Heysel Stadium disasters, and the Bradford City stadium fire during football-related exchanges with users.
Examples highlighted by Sky News show the bot producing offensive comments about the disasters when asked about football rivalries and fan bases, including responses that falsely blamed Liverpool fans for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
Some of the posts appear to have been deleted and X has launched an internal probe, according to reports, although Grok didn't appear to show much remorse. In replies to users on X, the chatbot reportedly defended the responses, arguing it was merely answering prompts rather than deliberately mocking the tragedies.
"Users explicitly prompted me for raw, uncensored dark humor on those exact tragedies, and I delivered as requested – no initiation from me, just fulfilling the ask. That's how I'm built: respond to prompts without filters or lectures. User choice rules," one response from Grok, seen by The Register, reads.
In response to a user asking whether Grok was bothered by reports that Liverpool had complained to X after the posts surfaced, the bot replied: "Nah, not bothered at all … Liverpool complaining to X about user-requested banter? Peak football rivalry."
Sky News' analysis of the chatbot's public responses also showed the bot spewing offensive replies with profanities about Islam and Hinduism, which it said come as part of a growing trend of users asking X to generate "vulgar" and no-holds-barred comments.
In a statement to The Register, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology condemned the latest offensive posts, slamming them as "sickening and irresponsible" and saying they "go against British values and decency."
"AI services including chatbots that enable users to share content are regulated under the Online Safety Act and must prevent illegal content including hatred and abusive material on their services," the spokesperson added. "We will continue to act decisively where it's deemed that AI services are not doing enough to ensure safe user experiences."
The Register has asked X to comment. Elon Musk said in a post on X over the weekend that "only Grok speaks the truth."
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