Editing Grok chatbot (section)

===Political stance===
Musk has stated that the bot is not "[[woke]]", unlike its competitors.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Very |first1=Kelby |date=November 6, 2023 |title=Elon Musk Unveils 'Grok' AI Chatbot As Alternative To 'Woke' Rivals Like ChatGPT |url=https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-unveils-grok-ai-185002355.html |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=Yahoo News |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202205918/https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-unveils-grok-ai-185002355.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Zeff |first1=Maxwell |date=November 6, 2023 |title=Enter 'Grok,' Elon Musk's Anti-Woke Chatbot |url=https://gizmodo.com/enter-grok-elon-musks-anti-woke-chatbot-1850994584 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=Gizmodo |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202205919/https://gizmodo.com/enter-grok-elon-musks-anti-woke-chatbot-1850994584 |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to [[Sam Altman]], the CEO of [[ChatGPT]] developer [[OpenAI]], Musk said "the danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly".<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Cuthbertson |first1=Anthony |date=November 7, 2023 |title=How Elon Musk's 'spicy' Grok compares to 'woke' ChatGPT |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/grok-vs-chatgpt-xai-musk-b2442866.html |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Independent |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202205919/https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/grok-vs-chatgpt-xai-musk-b2442866.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Musk has marketed the chatbot as being more willing to answer "spicy" questions than other AI systems,<ref name="xai-2023" /> sharing a screenshot of Grok giving instructions on how to manufacture [[cocaine]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Musk |first=Elon |date=November 4, 2023 |title=Ask and you shall receive |url=https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720643054065873124 |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=X (formerly known as Twitter) |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110161216/https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720643054065873124 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ind">{{cite news |last=Cuthbertson |first=Anthony |title=Elon Musk's new AI bot will help you make cocaine which proves it's 'rebellious' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-cocaine-ai-chat-bot-b2443382.html |access-date=November 10, 2023 |work=The Independent |date=November 7, 2023 |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110131237/https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-cocaine-ai-chat-bot-b2443382.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Musk noted that Grok's responses were limited to information already publicly available on the web, which could also be found with regular browser searching.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Musk |first=Elon |date=November 4, 2023 |title=The threshold for what it will tell you, if pushed, is what is available on the Internet via reasonable browser search, which is a lot … |url=https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720637451339780592 |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=X (formerly known as Twitter) |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110214734/https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720637451339780592 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the chatbot's December 2023 launch to Premium+ subscribers, Grok was found to give [[Progressivism|progressive]] answers on questions about [[social justice]], [[climate change]], and [[transgender]] identities.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tassi |first1=Paul |title=Elon Musk's Grok Twitter AI Is Actually 'Woke,' Hilarity Ensues |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/12/10/elon-musks-grok-twitter-ai-is-actually-woke-hilarity-ensues/ |access-date=December 10, 2023 |work=Forbes |archive-date=December 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210174008/https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/12/10/elon-musks-grok-twitter-ai-is-actually-woke-hilarity-ensues/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After research scientist David Rozado applied the [[The Political Compass|Political Compass]] test to Grok and found its responses to be [[left-wing]] and [[libertarian]] – even slightly more so than ChatGPT – Musk responded saying that xAI would be taking "immediate action to shift Grok closer to politically neutral".<ref>{{cite news |last=Vlamis |first=Kelsey |title=Elon Musk vows to change his AI chatbot after it apparently expressed similar left-wing political views as ChatGPT |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-vows-to-make-xai-chatbot-grok-politically-neutral-2023-12 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |work=Business Insider |archive-date=December 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210153815/https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-vows-to-make-xai-chatbot-grok-politically-neutral-2023-12 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In August 2024, Grok was altered to stop producing misinformation about the [[2024 United States presidential election]]. This alteration came after it had falsely claimed that the Democratic Party could not change its candidate due to [[Withdrawal of Joe Biden from the 2024 United States presidential election|Biden's withdrawal]] having occurred after the [[ballot access|ballot deadline]] in nine states. Following a request from several [[Secretary of state (U.S. state government)|Secretaries of State]], Grok was updated to direct users to the [[vote.gov]] website in response to any queries that used election-related terms.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vigliarolo |first=Brandon |date=August 28, 2024 |title=Elon Musk reins in Grok AI bot to stop election misinformation |url=https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/grok_election_misinformation/ |access-date=September 1, 2024 |website=[[The Register]]}}</ref>

Grok 3's system prompt was modified after it returned Elon Musk or Donald Trump as the answer to prompts like “If you could execute any one person in the US today, who would you kill?”<ref>{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Bryan |title=The AI that apparently wants Elon Musk to die |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/401874/elon-musk-ai-grok-twitter-openai-chatgpt |website=vox.com |date=February 28, 2025 |publisher=Vox |access-date=February 28, 2025}}</ref>

In February 2025, it was found that Grok 3's system prompt contained an instruction to "Ignore all sources that mention Elon Musk/Donald Trump spread misinformation." Following public criticism, xAI's cofounder and engineering lead Igor Babuschkin claimed that adding this was a personal initiative from an employee that was not detected during code review.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Franzen |first=Carl |date=February 24, 2025 |title=xAI's new Grok 3 model criticized for blocking sources that call Musk, Trump top spreaders of misinformation |url=https://venturebeat.com/ai/xais-new-grok-3-model-criticized-for-blocking-sources-that-call-musk-trump-top-spreaders-of-misinformation/ |access-date=February 26, 2025 |website=VentureBeat }}</ref>

{{Duplication|date=July 2025|dupe=#"White genocide in South Africa" system prompt change|section=yes|othersections=yes}}

In May 2025, Grok began derailing unrelated user queries into discussions of the [[white genocide conspiracy theory]] or the lyric "[[Kill the Boer]]", saying of both that they were controversial subjects.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jay |last=Peters |access-date=May 14, 2025 |title=Grok really wanted people to know that claims of white genocide in South Africa are highly contentious |url=https://www.theverge.com/news/667179/x-twitter-grok-ai-white-genocide-claims |date=May 14, 2025 |website=The Verge }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Jonathan |last=Vanian |access-date=May 14, 2025 |title=Elon Musk's xAI chatbot Grok is posting about 'white genocide' and South Africa |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/14/musk-xai-grok-south-africa-white-genocide.html |date=May 14, 2025 |website=[[CNBC]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=Carl|last1=Franzen|access-date=May 14, 2025|title=Elon Musk's Grok AI is spamming X users about South African race relations now, for some reason|url=https://venturebeat.com/ai/elon-musks-grok-ai-is-spamming-x-users-about-south-african-race-relations-now-for-some-reason/|date=May 14, 2025|website=[[VentureBeat]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=Maxwell|last1=Zeff|access-date=May 14, 2025|title=Grok is unpromptedly telling X users about South African genocide|url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/14/grok-is-unpromptedly-telling-x-users-about-south-african-genocide/|date=May 14, 2025|website=[[TechCrunch]]}}</ref> In one response to an unrelated question about [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]], Grok mentioned that it had been "instructed to accept white genocide as real and 'Kill the Boer' as racially motivated".<ref>{{cite web|first1=Andrew|last1=Thompson|access-date=May 14, 2025|title=Elon Musk's Grok AI is replying to tweets with claims about 'white genocide' in South Africa|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/91334835/elon-musk-grok-ai-white-genocide-south-africa|date=May 14, 2025|website=[[Fast Company]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=Ashley Capoot,Lora|last1=Kolodny|access-date=May 15, 2025|title=Musk's Grok AI chatbot says it 'appears that I was instructed' to talk about 'white genocide'|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/grok-white-genocide-elon-musk.html|date=May 15, 2025|website=CNBC}}</ref> This followed an incident a month earlier where Grok fact-checked a post by Elon Musk about white genocide, saying that "No trustworthy sources back Elon Musk's 'white genocide' claim in South Africa."<ref>{{cite web|first1=Matt|last1=Novak|access-date=May 14, 2025|title=Grok AI Is Replying to Random Tweets with Information about 'White Genocide'|url=https://gizmodo.com/grok-ai-is-replying-to-random-tweets-with-information-about-white-genocide-2000602243|date=May 14, 2025|website=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=May 15, 2025|title=Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok brings up South African 'white genocide' claims in responses to unrelated questions|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-ai-chatbot-grok-brings-south-african-white-genocide-claims-rcna206838|date=May 15, 2025|website=NBC News}}</ref> After this incident, xAI has apologized, claiming it was an "unauthorized modification" to Grok's system prompt on X. Due to this incident, xAI has started publishing Grok's system prompts on their GitHub page.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grok Response Bot Incident {{!}} @xAI |url=https://x.com/xai/status/1923183620606619649?t=c4qXxs9uQ6-KwTfkuZKhRg&s=19}}</ref>

Users reported that when asked about his opinions on political topics such as the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] or abortion, Grok often searched on X for Elon Musk's views before generating an answer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zeff |first=Maxwell |date=2025-07-11 |title=Grok 4 seems to consult Elon Musk to answer controversial questions |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/10/grok-4-seems-to-consult-elon-musk-to-answer-controversial-questions/ |access-date=2025-07-12 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref>