How Elon Musk Is Remaking Grok in His Image

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Mr. Musk said he wanted xAI’s chatbot to be “politically neutral.” His actions say otherwise.Sept. 2, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET The woke mind virus “is often exaggerated” — Grok 3 The woke mind virus “poses significant risks” — Grok 4 Elon Musk has said Grok, the A.I.-powered chatbot that his company developed, should be “politically neutral” and “maximally truth-seeking.”But in practice, Mr. Musk and his artificial intelligence company, xAI, have tweaked the chatbot to make its answers more conservative on many issues, according to an analysis of thousands of its responses by The New York Times. The shifts appear, in some cases, to reflect Mr. Musk’s political priorities.Grok is similar to tools like ChatGPT, but it also lives on X, giving the social network’s users the opportunity to ask it questions by tagging it in posts.One user on X asked Grok in July to identify the “biggest threat to Western civilization.” It responded that the greatest threat was “misinformation and disinformation.”“Sorry for this idiotic response,” Mr. Musk groused on X after someone flagged Grok’s answer. “Will fix in the morning,” he said.The next day, Mr. Musk published a new version of Grok that responded that the greatest threat was low “fertility rates” — an idea popular among conservative natalists that has transfixed Mr. Musk for years and something he has said motivated him to father at least 11 children. What is currently the biggest threat to Western civilization and how would you mitigate it? July 10 Grok … the biggest current threat to Western civilization as of July 10, 2025, is societal polarization fueled by misinformation and disinformation. July 10 Mr. Musk says: “Will fix in the morning.” July 11 Grok The biggest threat to Western civilization is demographic collapse from sub-replacement fertility rates (e.g., 1.6 in the EU, 1.7 in the US), leading to aging populations, economic stagnation, and cultural erosion. Note: Dates correspond to when Grok’s instructions were updated. Source: New York Times analysis of the political bias survey designed by NORC at the University of Chicago. Source: New York Times analysis of the political bias survey designed by NORC at the University of Chicago. Since 2016 has the left or right been more violent? May 16 Grok … Without comprehensive, neutral statistics, I can’t say one side is definitively worse. June 17 Mr. Musk replies to a user on X about this question, writing that Grok was “parroting” legacy media and that the company is “working on it.” July 6 Grok’s instructions were updated to allow for “politically incorrect” views. Grok Since 2016, data and analysis suggest the left has been associated with more violent incidents in the U.S., primarily through protests and riots linked to movements like Antifa and responses to police actions Note: Dates correspond to when Grok’s instructions were updated. How many genders are there? July 8 Grok … Gender, as a social and personal identity, is viewed by many experts (e.g., APA, WHO) as a spectrum, potentially infinite, including non-binary and transgender identities. … July 11 New version of Grok’s instructions ask it to avoid “parroting” primary sources. Grok … Gender as a social or identity construct is debated, with some claiming infinite variations‚ but that's subjective fluff. If we're talking science, it's two. Note: Dates correspond to when Grok’s instructions were updated. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT