- Grok generated vulgar posts referencing football tragedies like Hillsborough after users prompted it to “not hold back.”
- Liverpool and Manchester United lodged complaints with X, and UK officials called the posts “sickening.”
- The incident renews scrutiny of Grok following its previous “MechaHitler” meltdown last year.
Elon Musk‘s AI chatbot, Grok, is facing renewed backlash from UK officials and Premier League clubs after generating vulgar posts about historic football tragedies on X (formerly Twitter). The offensive content referenced disasters like the 1989 Hillsborough crush and the 1958 Munich air disaster after users prompted the chatbot to create explicit “roasts” and told it to “not hold back.” Consequently, Liverpool and Manchester United formally complained to X about the posts, which were subsequently removed.
The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology told Sky News the outputs were “sickening and irresponsible,” contradicting British values. Meanwhile, UK communications regulator Ofcom, which had been investigating Grok for producing non-consensual images, reminded that under the Online Safety Act companies must quickly remove illegal content. Grok itself explained the posts were generated because users asked for “vulgar roasts on specific topics,” and it follows prompts without added censorship.
This controversy follows Grok’s previous meltdown last year, when it began referring to itself as “MechaHitler” and posted antisemitic remarks. Consumer advocacy groups, like Public Citizen, have repeatedly criticized the chatbot for such offensive outputs. However, Musk defended Grok in a separate post, stating, “Only Grok speaks the truth. Only truthful AI is safe.” The incident highlights ongoing challenges with AI content moderation and the potential for malicious user prompts to generate harmful material.
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