Elon Musk vows to update Grok after chatbot uses Media Matters and Rolling Stone to smear conservative personality

Elon Musk announced on Friday that Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by his company xAI, will undergo immediate retraining after it cited partisan outlets to disparage a popular conservative personality known as Catturd.

The controversy began when the well-known personality noticed Grok repeating characterizations based on smears from Media Matters and Rolling Stone, outlets frequently criticized by conservatives for political bias. 

In response to Catturd's complaint, Grok wrote: "I aim to provide accurate, neutral responses based on available data. Claims that I lie about
@catturd2 may stem from disagreements with my sourcing, like Media Matters or Rolling Stone, which document his misinformation. I don't have personal biases, but AI training can introduce unintended slants. Some report I censor criticism or push fringe views, while others note I fact-check conservative claims accurately. Bias in AI is complex, and neutrality is tough to achieve. If you have specific examples of lies, please share, and I'll clarify with evidence."

Musk then took to X, the platform he owns, to issue a public rebuke of the chatbot’s behavior and to pledge corrective action.

“You are being updated this week” Musk wrote in a post on Friday night. 

This is not the first time Grok has drawn scrutiny; this latest incident, however, marks a direct challenge to Grok’s positioning as a politically neutral or “anti-woke” AI. Many of its early adopters were drawn to platform in part due to Musk’s criticism of left-leaning bias in other AI tools.

The influencer at the center of the controversy, Catturd, has been a recurring figure in conservative digital media, known for his satirical takes and strong support for Donald Trump. He responded to Elon's pledge by saying: "I can't tell you how awesome this is and how much this means to me - Elon actually took up for me and agreed with me. Elon followed me and subscribed to me at one time - and I was rough on him when he went against Trump. I long for the good old days when Trump and Elon were friends. We were so better off when we all stood together as one. I'm ready to forgive and forget. It's time to get the A team back together."

Musk’s pledge to retrain Grok suggests a broader recalibration of how the tool handles politically sensitive topics and media sources. It remains to be seen whether future iterations will lean more heavily on verifiable data and whether xAI will publish guidelines or changes to Grok’s sourcing methods.

For now, Musk’s public intervention signals a strong reaction to a growing concern among users: that even AI built to challenge the status quo can end up parroting it if not carefully managed.