MTG Argues With Elon Musk's AI, Calls It ‘Left Leaning'
On Friday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) started arguing with Grok, Elon Musk's AI chatbot, after it had responded to a user query by questioning her adherence to Christianity..
'@grok the judgement seat belongs to GOD, not you a non-human AI platform,' the congresswoman wrote, initially addressing the non-sentient jumble of code trained to regurgitate things it finds on the internet. It's the 2025 equivalent of yelling at AOL's SmarterChild.
'Grok is left leaning and continues to spread fake news and propaganda. When people give up their own discernment, stop seeking the truth, and depend on AI to analyze information, they will be lost,' she added.
Grok had written that while Greene 'identifies as a Christian, expressing faith in Jesus and traditional' her 'Christian nationalism and support for conspiracy theories, like QAnon, spark debate.'
The bot added that 'critics, including religious leaders, argue her actions contradict Christian values of love and unity, citing her defense of January 6 and divisive rhetoric' and that 'supporters may see her stances as faith-driven.'
'Whether she's 'really' a Christian is subjective, depending on personal and theological views. Her faith appears genuine to her, but public actions create controversy,' the AI wrote.
Grok is, at its best, a complete joke and at its worst a programmable misinformation tool that Musk uses to spread his ideological dribble to people who can't be bothered to look up something for themselves. A concerning number of X users seem to have decided that replying to posts with '@grok explain this,' or '@grok is this true,' is an appropriate substitute for the use of their synapses.
Most recently, Grok appeared to be programed to push conspiracy theories about white genocide in South Africa. The AI responded to practically every question it was asked by redirecting the conversation to claims of white genocide, and casting doubt on evidence disproving the theory.
xAI, Musk's AI company and the developer of Grok, later claimed that the incident had occurred due to 'an unauthorized modification,' which 'directed Grok to provide a specific response on a political topic.'
The company claimed that the modification 'violated xAI's internal policies and core values,' but it's hard to believe when Musk has himself been one of the most prominent modern promoters of conspiracy theories about white genocide in his home country of South Africa. Clearly the output of Grok can be modified to account for the political beliefs of interested parties like Musk. If Greene is so bothered by Grok's description of her religious values, she — as the head of Congress' Department of Government Efficiency liaison committee — should have no problem asking Musk to re-code the offending bot. After all, actually changing her behavior to align with the values she claims to uphold would be unthinkable.
More from Rolling Stone
RFK Jr. and Republicans Are Dismantling a Health Achievement: Fluoride in Water
Transgender Troops Deserve the Right to Serve
Grok Pivots From 'White Genocide' to Being 'Skeptical' About the Holocaust
Best of Rolling Stone
The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign
Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal
The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
a few seconds ago
- New York Post
Meta dishes out $250M to lure 24-year-old AI whiz kid: ‘We have reached the climax of ‘Revenge of the Nerds'
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta gave a 24-year-old artificial intelligence whiz a staggering $250 million compensation package, raising the bar in the recruiting wars for top talent — while also raising questions about economic inequality in an AI-dominated future. Matt Deitke, who recently dropped out of a computer science doctoral program at the University of Washington, initially turned down Zuckerberg's 'low-ball' offer of approximately $125 million over four years, according to the New York Times. But when the Facebook founder, a former whiz kid himself, met with Deitke and doubled the offer to roughly $250 million — with potentially $100 million paid in the first year alone — the young researcher accepted what may be one of the largest employment packages in corporate history, the Times reported. 4 Matt Deitke, the 24-year-old AI researcher who landed a $250 million deal with Meta, is at the center of Silicon Valley's escalating talent war. X / @mattdeitke 'When computer scientists are paid like professional athletes, we have reached the climax of the 'Revenge of the Nerds!'' Professor David Autor, an economist at MIT, told The Post on Friday. Deitke's journey illustrates how quickly fortunes can be made in AI's limited talent pool. After leaving his doctoral program, he worked at Seattle's Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, where he led the development of Molmo, an AI chatbot capable of processing images, sounds, and text — exactly the type of multimodal system Meta is pursuing. In November, Deitke co-founded Vercept, a startup focused on AI agents that can autonomously perform tasks using internet-based software. With approximately 10 employees, Vercept raised $16.5 million from investors including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. His groundbreaking work on 3D datasets, embodied AI environments and multimodal models earned him widespread acclaim, including an Outstanding Paper Award at NeurIPS 2022. The award, one of the highest accolades in the AI research community, is handed out to around a dozen researchers out of more than 10,000 submissions. 4 Deitke initially turned down Meta's offer before CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) doubled it to secure his move to the Superintelligence Lab. REUTERS The deal to lock up Deitke underscores Meta's aggressive push to compete in artificial intelligence. Meta has reportedly paid out more than $1 billion to build an all-star roster, including luring away Ruoming Pang, former head of Apple's AI models team, to join its Superintelligence Labs team with a compensation package reportedly worth more than $200 million. The company said capital expenditures will go up to $72 billion for 2025, an increase of approximately $30 billion year-over-year, in its earnings report Wednesday. While proponents argue that competition drives innovation, critics worry about the concentration of power among a few companies and individuals capable of shaping AI's development. Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor of Information Studies and Design/Media Arts at UCLA and founder of the university's Digital Cultures Lab, said the direction that companies like Meta are taking with artificial intelligence is 'foundational to why our economy is becoming more unequal by the day.' 'These firms are awarding hundreds of millions of dollars to a handful of elite researchers while simultaneously laying off thousands of workers—many of whom, like content moderators, are not even classified as full employees,' Srinivasan told the New York Post. 4 Meta recruited Deitke with one of the largest known compensation packages in tech history, reportedly after a direct outreach from Mark Zuckerberg. X / @Scobleizer 'These are the very jobs Meta and similar companies intend to replace with the AI systems they're aggressively developing.' Srinivasan, who advises US policymakers on technology policy and has written extensively on the societal impact of AI, said this model of development rewards those advancing large language models while 'displacing and disenfranchising the workers whose labor, ironically, generated the data powering those models in the first place.' 'This is cognitive task automation,' he said. 'It's HR, administrative work, paralegal work — even driving for Uber. If data can be collected on a job, it can be mimicked by a machine. All of those forms of income are on the chopping block.' 4 Ruoming Pang, former head of Apple's AI models team, was among the high-profile researchers reportedly poached by Meta. LinkedIn / Ruoming Pang Asked whether universal basic income might address mass displacement, Srinivasan, who hosts the Utopias podcast, called it 'highly insufficient.' 'Yes, UBI gives people money, but it doesn't address the fundamental issue: no one is being paid for the data that makes these AI systems possible,' he said. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg told investors on the company's earnings call: 'We're building an elite, talent-dense team. If you're going to be spending hundreds of billions of dollars on compute and building out multiple gigawatt of clusters, then it really does make sense to compete super hard and do whatever it takes to get that, you know, 50 or 70 or whatever it is, top researchers to build your team.' 'There's just an absolute premium for the best and most talented people.' A Meta spokesperson referred The Post to Zuckerberg's comments to investors.
Android Authority
a few seconds ago
- Android Authority
The clock is ticking: Google has 14 days to make major changes to the Play Store
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Google has 14 days to enact the Play Store changes needed to resolve its antitrust issues. The tech giant has now filed an emergency stay with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The company believes that making these changes in such a short amount of time will put users and developers at risk. On Thursday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling from the original Epic v. Google lawsuit, giving Epic Games the big win it was looking for. As a result, Google must enact a list of remedies to resolve its antitrust issues. The tech giant is now hoping the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will grant it an emergency stay. According to The Verge, Google has revealed that it has only 14 days to enact the significant changes it was ordered to make to the Play Store. The quick turnaround has led the tech giant to file an emergency stay with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to put a pause on the situation. The list of remedies that will need to be enacted in 14 days includes: Allowing app developers to use non-Google payment methods Allowing developers to tell users about other ways to pay from within the Play Store Letting developers share links with users that allow their apps to be downloaded outside of the Play Store Letting developers set their own prices No more paying phone makers, carriers, and developers for Play Store exclusivity or preinstallation Working with Epic to resolve any disputes as Google builds a system to let rival app stores in Eventually, Google will also have to allow rival app stores on the Play Store or give these rivals access to its full app catalog. However, Google won't be forced to do that quite yet. As the outlet points out, Google still has seven and a half months before it will be required to let other apps onto the Play Store. So, although Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said the Epic Games Store is coming to the Play Store, that won't happen until at least next year. In the stay request, Google argues that this qualifies as an emergency because making these changes will significantly impact millions of users, hundreds of thousands of developers, and its own company. It also claims that enacting such changes in a short span of time will expose users and developers to substantial risks, as well as jeopardize the Android ecosystem. Whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals grants Google's request for a stay remains to be seen. But considering Google was denied an earlier request for a stay, it seems unlikely. It's expected that Google could try to appeal to the Supreme Court. Follow
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Big Tech's huge AI spending spree: A closer look post-earnings
Big Tech is ramping up artificial intelligence (AI) spending, with Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META) now expected to pour $364 billion into AI this fiscal year. Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Allie Canal joins Market Domination to break down what that surge in investment means for the broader market and upcoming Nvidia (NVDA) results. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination. Hi, Josh. That's right. Big Tech AI spending spree is on a roll here and only getting bigger. We heard from Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, all now expecting to spend a combined $364 billion in their 2025 fiscal year. That's a sharp increase from earlier estimates of around $325 billion. Wall Street certainly cheering this news. We saw Meta and Microsoft shares soar after earnings. Microsoft actually briefly topped that $4 trillion market cap. Alphabet also rallied. Amazon was the lone exception here. Its stock slumped after a weak AWS guidance, spooking some investors there when it comes to where Amazon actually stands in this AI race. Now these companies have said that spending is essential in order to meet a lot of that surging AI demand, and that includes building data centers, expanding cloud infrastructure. Microsoft alone plans to spend nearly $30 billion in the first quarter of its new fiscal year. Analysts are certainly buying in as well. RBC Capital Markets calling Microsoft's AI footprint underappreciated, Needham saying that Google is leading GenAI innovation. Wedbush hiking its price target on Meta to a whopping $920 a share. So, there's just a lot of optimism on the street. There is some speculation on whether or not these are bubble-like numbers, whether or not the valuation can really be justified, especially as AI returns are still a bit murky and monetization remains unclear. But for now, investors are paying, are betting, I should say, that the payoff is just a matter of time here. So, just across the board, very solid results, and this all sets us up for Nvidia earnings at the end of the month. But, Josh, judging from what we saw from a lot of these hyperscalers, I think we're poised for a really strong Nvidia report. So, a lot of important crosscurrents there, Allie. Generally, how do strategists, market strategists, feel about Big Tech? Very positive and very bullish. You can just look at the sector action that we've seen throughout the course of the year to really tell that story. Tech is one of the top leading sectors, and conversely, if you look at the biggest laggards this year, that's Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples. So, a lot of these companies that are exposed to the consumer, particularly lower income consumers, they've seen a lot of pain on the tariff front. We know that inflation is edging up a little bit. We got that jobs data earlier this morning that points to a potential weaker labor market than we saw heading into this month. So, all of that is really insulated from Big Tech, or I should say Big Tech is insulated from a lot of those concerns. Of course, Apple did say they expect to take a $1.1 billion hit when it comes to tariffs in the current quarter, but investors weren't really concerned about that. They shrugged a lot of that off. They're looking at iPhone demand, they're looking at China, there's just different guidelines and different set of rules for a lot of these Big Tech companies. So, that's why it's really been leading a lot of the gains and leading the rally that we've seen this year. All right. Thank you, Allie. Appreciate it. Related Videos Berkshire Hathaway earnings: 'Perfect' stock to own when 'worried' Fed Governor Adriana Kugler to resign Dow falls more than 500 points on jobs report, tariffs Colgate-Palmolive, Rocket, Regeneron: Trending Tickers Sign in to access your portfolio
