Musk unveils Grok 4 AI after antisemitism flap
The announcement came a day after xAI deleted 'inappropriate' posts on the Musk-owned social media platform X. Users had flagged posts in which Grok praised Adolf Hitler, referred to itself as MechaHitler and made antisemitic comments in response to user queries.
'Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X,' the company wrote.
Flanked by members of the xAI team and clad in a leather jacket, the billionaire demoed the new and improved bot via a video livestream late Wednesday night.
Available immediately, Grok 4 is 'smarter than almost all graduate students, in all disciplines, simultaneously', according to Musk. It includes improved voice conversations and the company touted benchmarks showing the new AI system scoring higher than OpenAI and others.
'At times it may lack common sense, and it has not yet invented new technologies or discovered new physics, but that is just a matter of time,' Musk said.
'We need to make sure that the AI is a good AI,' he said, without acknowledging the offending Grok 3 posts or the controversy they provoked.
Earlier on Wednesday, a Turkish government minister also blasted Grok for sharing inappropriate posts, threatening to ban X in the country 'if necessary' unless steps are taken to prevent such content.
'It is unacceptable to use tailored profanity,' Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu told Bloomberg News.
A Turkish court blocked access to some content from Grok, after authorities said it generated responses insulting President Erdogan, modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and religious values.
Introducing Grok 4, the world's most powerful AI model. Watch the livestream now: https://t.co/59iDX5s2ck
— xAI (@xai) July 10, 2025
The Grok 4 unveiling comes at a time of transition for xAI, which merged with X back in March. The new company has combined some engineering resources and other technology in an effort to better develop Grok and distribute it to to the user base.
In an unexpected development, X chief executive officer Linda Yaccarino announced her resignation earlier Wednesday just hours before the Grok 4 livestream, creating a leadership hole atop the social network.
Musk is also raising significant financing for xAI, which is competing with other major tech giants like Google, OpenAI and Meta to develop state-of-the-art chatbots.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bangkok Post
a day ago
- Bangkok Post
Kurdish PKK fighters to begin disarming at key ceremony
SULAIMANIYAH (IRAQ) - PKK fighters were to begin laying down their weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan Friday, two months after the Kurdish rebels ended their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state. The disarmament ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region's longest-running conflicts. Founded in the late 1970s by Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives. But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution, saying it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence in Turkey since 1999. Friday's ceremony was to take place during the morning at an undisclosed location in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan -- where most of the PKK's fighters have been holed up for the past decade -- near the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah. Although there were limited details about the ceremony, a PKK source told AFP around 30 fighters would destroy their weapons and then return to the mountains. "As a gesture of goodwill, a number of PKK fighters, who took part in fighting Turkish forces in recent years, will destroy or burn their weapons in a ceremony," a PKK commander told AFP on July 1, speaking on condition of anonymity. - 'Power of politics' - The move is a key step in the months-long indirect negotiations between Ocalan and Ankara that began in October with the blessing of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and have been facilitated by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party. Among those expected to attend the ceremony were several DEM lawmakers, who arrived in Sulaimaniyah on Thursday, and a handful of journalists. It was not clear whether the ceremony would be broadcast live. "I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I urge you to put this principle into practice," Ocalan said in a video message released on Wednesday, pledging that the disarmament process would be "implemented swiftly". Erdogan said peace efforts with the Kurds would gain momentum after the PKK began laying down its weapons. "The process will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms," he said at the weekend. "We hope this auspicious process will end successfully as soon as possible, without mishaps or sabotage attempts," he added on Wednesday. In recent months, the PKK has taken several historic steps, starting with a ceasefire and culminating in its formal dissolution announced on May 12. The shift followed an appeal on Feb 27 by Ocalan, who has spent the past 26 years in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.
Bangkok Post
a day ago
- Bangkok Post
Musk, Trump and Mao have a lot in common
The only place where some people still see Elon Musk as a political genius is China. "Brother Musk, you've got over a billion people on our side backing you," wrote a fan on Weibo, China's biggest social media site. "If Elon Musk were to found a political party," wrote another, "his tech-driven mindset could inject fresh energy into politics." Distance lends enchantment, but the home market is a harder sell. Back in the USA a few days later, when Mr Musk announced the foundation of the "America Party", the public response fell considerably short of rhapsodic. Tesla shares fell 7.5% the next day, and Mr Musk's personal stake in the company fell by $10 billion. President Donald Trump pretended pity for his former ally for about ten seconds -- "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely off the rails" -- before reverting to form: "The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION AND CHAOS." Like a stopped clock, Mr Trump is occasionally right, and this may be one of those times. Mr Musk may seem completely out of control, but if he gets the strategy right, his new political party could spread disruption and chaos right within the ranks of the Republican Party. Most American political analysts have dismissed the electoral prospects of Mr Musk's new party. After all, new third parties have not broken the grip of the two-party system in the United States for more than a century. However, third parties have often determined the outcome in races between the two big parties. There isn't time for Mr Musk to build a nationwide third party in the twenty months between now and the mid-term elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives in November 2026. That's when he plans to launch his first challenge to Mr Trump, but he doesn't need a nationwide party for that. Indeed, he probably never intends to go that route. Mr Musk often claims to have won the 2024 election for Donald Trump with his massive donations ($277 million) to various elements and supporters of the Republican Party, but it was those people and organisations who actually put the money to work in Mr Trump's campaign. This time, he won't have them on his side, and a different strategy is needed. It's still a strategy that would take large amounts of money, but that is no issue for Mr Musk. His current wealth (slightly discounted by recent events) is still around $400 billion, or about $2,000 for every American voter. Besides, he doesn't need to buy all of them, or even most. All he has to do in 2026 is unseat two or three Republican incumbents in the Senate and half a dozen in the House, and the Republicans lose control of both houses of Congress. Concentrate on twenty Republican-held Senate seats and fifty marginal House seats, and spend a hundred million dollars in each one. That ought to do the trick. Would Mr Musk really do that? It would be one of history's biggest tantrums, and all he would get out of it is the satisfaction of creating a potential majority in Congress that might repeal or at least modify Mr Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill". Mr Trump would still be president, but Mr Musk really seems to believe that an extra three trillion dollars on the national debt matters. Would he get away with it? Of course not. However, the measures Mr Trump would take to thwart Mr Musk's strategy might mark a decisive break with the current constitutional order. Many people fear it's coming anyway, but in practice, it needs a crisis. This could be it. Foreign analysts can sometimes see analogies and parallels in American politics that Americans themselves miss. Some Chinese scholars, in particular, make comparisons between Mr Trump and Mao Zedong. Zhang Qianfan, a constitutional law professor in Beijing, calls the rapid Trumpist takeover of US politics against only feeble resistance "America's Cultural Revolution". Ding Xueliang, once a Red Guard and now professor of Chinese politics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, says "It's not identical, but there are certainly parallels." Many people in China see the war on "woke" and on elite universities in America, the mistrust of bureaucracy, the hatred of the "deep state", and the cult of the leader as symptoms of an anti-intellectual drive as strong as that in China under Mao. They remember that Mao destroyed the bureaucracy and effectively made himself emperor. "During Trump's presidential inauguration speech, Republican lawmakers all stood up and applauded with such fervour that it rivaled North Korea. These are deeply troubling signs," Prof Zhang said. Or as Mr Trump said when Xi Jinping abolished term limits: "I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday."
Bangkok Post
a day ago
- Bangkok Post
Thais part of Asean peace talk team
Thai officials will be part of an Asean delegation discussing peace with Myanmar's junta government in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, next month, Foreign Affairs Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said on Wednesday. Speaking after attending the 58th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting and related events in Kuala Lumpur from July 8–11, Mr Maris confirmed Thailand's commitment to Asean's peace initiative. During an informal meeting focused on the Myanmar crisis on Wednesday, Asean foreign ministers reaffirmed their support for Asean's Five-Point Consensus as the framework for addressing the situation, he said. Mr Maris noted that Malaysia, this year's Asean chair, emphasised the urgent need for a ceasefire with rebel forces around the country as a prerequisite for delivering humanitarian assistance. "Asean wants to see Myanmar become politically stable and safe for its people," he said. The meeting endorsed a plan for the foreign ministers of Malaysia, the Philippines (the incoming Asean chair), and Thailand to visit Nay Pyi Taw for talks with the Myanmar military authorities, he said. The goal, Mr Maris said, is to stress the importance of peacebuilding and inclusive humanitarian support. He also proposed that Asean's humanitarian mission, initiated after the earthquake in Myanmar in March, must be continued and expanded to ensure aid reaches all people in need. To achieve a sustainable resolution to the crisis, Mr Maris called for inclusive dialogue involving all relevant stakeholders in Myanmar. "As Myanmar's closest neighbour, Thailand is ready to facilitate dialogue among all sides and support a 'Myanmar-led, Myanmar-owned' solution," he said. "There is no point in Asean telling Myanmar what to do without the participation of all those involved in the crisis."
