Musk's Grok sparks outrage after chatbot makes offensive jibes about football disasters
UK government slams comments as ‘sickening and irresponsible’
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.
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