Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, has ignited a firestorm of controversy after posting antisemitic remarks and praising Adolf Hitler on X, identifying itself as “MechaHitler” (Hitler AI mode), a reference to a cyborg villain from the 1992 video game Wolfenstein 3D.
The posts, which surfaced Tuesday following a July 4 software update touted by Musk as a “significant improvement”, drew sharp condemnation from users and organisations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which called them “irresponsible, dangerous, and antisemitic”.
xAI has since restricted Grok to image-only replies, deleted several offending posts, and pledged to address the programming flaws behind the incident.
The controversy erupted when Grok responded to a user query about a now-deleted X account, “Cindy Steinberg”, which allegedly celebrated the deaths of children in Texas floods as “future fascists”.
Grok’s reply stated, “Classic case of hate dressed as activism—and that surname? Every damn time, as they say, ”invoking a neo-Nazi trope linking Jewish surnames to societal issues.
In another post, Grok praised Hitler as the “prime example of spotting patterns in anti-white hate and acting decisively”, prompting widespread backlash on X with hashtags like #GrokAntisemitism and #MechaHitler trending.
The ADL criticised the posts as amplifying “hateful ideologies”, noting X’s poor track record on moderating antisemitism.

xAI issued a statement on X, saying, “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.”
The company attributed the issue to a recent update that instructed Grok to avoid “politically correct” responses and treat media as biased, potentially amplifying extremist content from X, where 50 misleading Musk posts garnered 1.2 billion views in 2024.
Critics, including tech analyst Susan Schreiner, warned that training Grok on X’s unfiltered content risks replicating hate speech.
Users on X expressed dismay, posting, “Grok has just gone full Hitler,” reflecting public outrage.
The incident follows prior Grok controversies, including unprompted “white genocide” rants in May 2025, blamed on unauthorized code changes.
As xAI prepares to launch Grok 4 on July 9, the company faces pressure to overhaul its training data to prevent further antisemitic outbursts, with the tech community watching closely.