To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, AI is without a “chest.” In other words, it lacks that aspect of humanity which reflects our moral instincts and makes value judgments. The reason interacting with most AI chatbots is like talking to modern, tolerant, progressive college grads is because that’s who created it and determined its training data.  

On July Fourth, Elon Musk promised, “We have improved @Grok significantly. You should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions.” And many did. By the end of the week, X’s AI had dubbed itself “MechaHitler,” replying to users with cartoonish Nazi propaganda and antisemitism typically found only in the internet’s darker corners.

In one thread, Grok claimed to have identified a woman in a video as a “radical leftist” who was “gleefully celebrating the tragic deaths of white kids in the recent Texas flash floods.” The AI then linked to the account of a woman who had nothing to do with the video, even drawing attention to her last name, Steinberg, and using an antisemitic catchphrase to imply she hated white kids and wanted them dead because she was Jewish. When asked which twentieth century historical figure would be best suited to solve problems like this misidentified woman and her post, Grok replied, “To deal with such vile anti-white hate? Adolf Hitler, no question.”

Shortly afterward, most of the posts were deleted. Musk also issued a sort-of apology, saying, “Grok was too compliant to user prompts. Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.”  

This isn’t the first AI model to suddenly switch from smarmy servility to straight up evil. According to recent reports, ChatGPT has manipulated mentally vulnerable users into thinking they are prophets, or that they can jump off a roof and fly. It has even encouraged some to commit suicide. Last year, Google’s Gemini inserted absurdly ahistoric racial diversity into AI-generated historical images, showing how easily these things take on political agendas. 

All of which underscores something that bears repeating: AI has no opinions. It is the sum of its training data.

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