AI blamed an 'unauthorized modification' for a bug in its AI-powered Grok chatbot that caused Grok to repeatedly refer to "white genocide in South Africa" when invoked in certain contexts on X.

After xAI’s chatbot Grok spent a few hours on Wednesday telling every X user that would listen that the claim of white genocide in South Africa is highly contentious, the company has blamed the behavior on an “unauthorized modification” to Grok’s code.

Elon Musk’s Grok AI went off the rails recently, inserting white genocide conspiracy theories into unrelated queries. Here's what happened, why it matters, and why you shouldn't trust chatbots.