After Grok took a hard turn toward antisemitic earlier this week, many are probably left wondering how something like that could even happen.

On Tuesday July 8, X (née Twitter) was forced to switch off the social media platform’s in-built AI, Grok, after it declared itself to be a robot version of Hitler, spewing antisemitic hate and racist conspiracy theories. This followed X owner Elon Musk’s declaration over the weekend that he was insisting Grok be less “politically correct.”

First, X CEO Linda Yaccarino stepped down the same day of the Grok 4 launch, as did the head of xAI’s infrastructure engineering who left for OpenAI. And then there was MechaHitler. On Tuesday, July 8 — just one day before the Grok 4 launch ...

MechaHitler is a fictional cyborg version of Adolf Hitler from the 1992 game Wolfenstein 3D, which gained fame in 90s satire and early internet memes.

The Grok debacle isn't just a tech ethics story. It’s a business, legal, and reputational risk story—one that businesses in nearly every industry shouldn’t ignore.

While xAI promised to resolve the issue, many are asking for elected leaders to take a stand against the company’s presence in Memphis. The Greater Memphis Chamber and other xAI proponents have not released a statement on the matter.

Linda Yaccarino has announced that she is stepping down as the CEO of Elon Musk’s X after two years at the helm of the social media platform, previously known as Twitter.