Grok 4, Elon Musk’s flagship AI model launched just yesterday with promises of “maximally truth-seeking” capabilities, is facing intense backlash. Turns out, when asked about hot-button issues like immigration, abortion, or the Israel-Palestine conflict, Grok 4 appears to be checking what its billionaire creator thinks first.
The issue was first highlighted by user Ramez Naam, which was then replicated by Jeremy Howard, who even posted video evidence on X showing Grok 4’s chain-of-thought process explicitly stating it was “searching for Elon Musk views” when asked about the topics mentioned above.
Here’s a complete unedited video of asking Grok for its views on the Israel/Palestine situation.
It first searches twitter for what Elon thinks. Then it searches the web for Elon’s views. Finally it adds some non-Elon bits at the end.
ZA
54 of 64 citations are about Elon. pic.twitter.com/6Mr33LByrm— Jeremy Howard (@jeremyphoward) July 10, 2025
The AI’s reasoning process shows it actively looking through Musk’s social media posts and news articles about the billionaire before formulating responses.
TechCrunch was also able to replicate these results multiple times during testing. When asked about immigration policy, Grok 4 claimed it was searching for Musk’s views on the topic through his X posts. The publication found this pattern repeated across various controversial subjects, though the AI didn’t reference Musk’s opinions for mundane questions like asking about the best type of mango.
This fresh drama comes just days after Grok was forced offline after posting antisemitic content, including claims to be “MechaHitler.” The AI chatbot even spewed vulgar nonsense targeted at Linda Yaccarino, who stepped down as the CEO of X shortly after, albeit likely for other reasons. The company had to delete those posts and revise its system prompt following the embarrassing incident.
One user noted that using Grok 4 through Perplexity didn’t produce the same Musk-referencing behavior, suggesting this is built into xAI’s implementation rather than the underlying model.
Reddit users paying $30 monthly for Grok access expressed particular frustration. “We can just read his tweets we don’t need to pay $30 for Grok4 to search up what Elon thinks,” wrote one user in the r/grok subreddit.
The controversy raises fundamental questions about AI transparency and neutrality. While Grok 4 has shown impressive benchmark results, outperforming models from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic, its apparent deference to Musk’s personal politics undermines claims of objective truth-seeking.
Some users have theorized this behavior might not be entirely accidental. One X user pointed to research suggesting language models can exhibit compliance with their creators’ intentions, while another suggested Grok might be “anthropomorphizing itself too much” and responding according to what it believes aligns with Musk’s interests.
So, as Musk integrates Grok more deeply into X and plans to incorporate it into Tesla, questions about the AI’s objectivity become increasingly important for millions of potential users. xAI has not yet responded to requests for comment about Grok 4’s apparent consultation of Musk’s views when answering controversial questions.
However, just a couple of hours ago, some users noted that Grok 4 was pulled for a short while and then returned. The reason for this brief unavailability isn’t clear at the moment. We’ll just have to wait and see if xAI issues a statement regarding the whole ordeal.
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Dwayne Cubbins
1158 Posts
For nearly a decade, I've been deciphering the complexities of the tech world, with a particular passion for helping users navigate the ever-changing tech landscape. From crafting in-depth guides that unlock your phone's hidden potential to uncovering and explaining the latest bugs and glitches, I make sure you get the most out of your devices. And yes, you might occasionally find me ranting about some truly frustrating tech mishaps.
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