Grok Is Glitching and Spewing Misinformation About the Bondi Beach Shooting

Posted by tobr 5 hours ago

Counter32Comment20OpenOriginal

Comments

Comment by _fat_santa 42 minutes ago

I think what’s worse is how Grok is used on X. You can summon it on any thread by just @grok with your question.

I see this sooo soooo much but folks will just straight up ask “@grok is this true?” and its response it taken as gospel.

Though I have to say, grok code-fast-1 is one of the best coding models I’ve ever used.

Comment by bdcravens 1 minute ago

It's funny when I see it used in a heated political conversation on X, and when it disproves a conservative talking point, I've seen it then called, unironically, liberal and woke.

Comment by blitzar 1 hour ago

Grok is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Comment by grvbck 3 hours ago

> Gizmodo reached out to Grok-developer xAI for comment, but they have only responded with the usual automated reply, “Legacy Media Lies.”

European here, so perhaps not my place to have an opinion on domestic U.S. legal policies, and I don't want to make this political (although I guess it kind of is…) BUT:

Why are no media outlets on the offense when companies use these kinds of statements? Shouldn't Gizmodo, or its owner Keleops Media, treat this as slander and take it to court? If Grok's behavior can be objectively verified, why is it so easy for a company to get off the hook so easily just by saying "lies" and move on?

Comment by alsetmusic 2 hours ago

USA citizen. I've so much lost faith in our media that this hadn't even occurred to me. You're right. This should be front and center and embarrassing the owner (that guy) every day.

Comment by dm270 3 hours ago

Also european here. I would assume that it's not slander if it is a direct reply.

Comment by breve 1 hour ago

> Shouldn't Gizmodo, or its owner Keleops Media, treat this as slander and take it to court?

Slander is spoken. In print it's libel.

Comment by arielcostas 26 minutes ago

Fellow european here, the problem is they need to prove both than the statements are false ("legacy media lies" probably means you need to prove you haven't ever lied) plus show actual malice (intent to harm the plaintiff, in this case, Gizmodo, or acting with reckless disregard for the truth).

Comment by clanky 57 minutes ago

To get anywhere filing some kind of claim over this, Gizmodo would have to prove in court:

- The "Legacy Media Lies" was targeted at Gizmodo

- It was a false allegation (i.e. they might have to go through huge amounts of discovery as the defense tried to establish a single instance of dishonesty in past reporting)

- Grok/xAI knew the allegation was false

- The allegation caused such-and-such amount in damages

Comment by kotaKat 3 hours ago

They'll just change the autoresponder to a shit emoji again.

Comment by aaron695 1 hour ago

[dead]

Comment by notslander 2 hours ago

Another european here (very important fact)

Also not slander when its the pure truth verifiable with daily evidence

Comment by beepbooptheory 1 hour ago

What goes into the "purity" of a truth? Are there impure truths?

Comment by Suzuran 1 hour ago

Yes; A half-truth is a lie by omission.

For example, "Mom, there's a candy wrapper under (my brother)'s bed!" is a true statement, but the pure truth is "Mom, I ate a candy without permission and put the wrapper under (my brother)'s bed so he would be blamed for the missing candy!"

I am attempting to convey a lie by telling a truth and omitting details that would give context to that truth.

Comment by throwawayqqq11 1 hour ago

When you have the pure truth, why would you silently dismiss questions about your truth bot and not blast it 24/7?

Because right wingers cant handle criticsm. They dont want to correct, they want to silence their outgroups. Professionals would have at least replied with some meaningless PR text wall.

Comment by iammjm 3 hours ago

“Glitching” aka trying to bend the reality to somehow fit whatever propaganda and lies Musk just forced it to spew

Comment by netsharc 2 hours ago

The other day I read an article that said Grok claims Elmo is more athletically fit than Lebron James. I thought "Elmo must just be trolling us, and getting a laugh from all the anger he's causing among his haters". (of which I'm one.) He claims to be a serious businessman and then he pulls shit like that. Or dumb actors in spandex robot suits. It might even refute the claim he can't be funny: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/13/it-soo...

But now I'm wondering what if these stunts aren't even jokes but earnest proof of deep deep insecurity.

Not that the Bondi misinformation can be considered acceptable humor. "Haha I trolled you about mass murder"?

Comment by 3 hours ago

Comment by mubou2 5 hours ago

[flagged]

Comment by sunaookami 1 hour ago

Are photos & videos that new even recognizable by Grok? Can't try ChatGPT because it spews an error ("Error in message stream") and then I've reached my limit. Gemini on gemini.google.com (Gemini 3 Pro) does the same as Grok and thinks the photo[1] is from the October 7th attacks:

>Based on the visual evidence and public reports, the man in the image is Yarden Bibas.

>His identity and background have been widely confirmed by news organizations and his family following the events of October 7, 2023.

On Google AI Studio (Gemini 3 Pro with Grounding enabled) it correctly recognizes him as Ahmed Al-Ahmed. In the Chain-of-Thought it first thinks it's from the Oct 7th attacks:

>I'm now investigating potential misidentification. The name "Ahmed Al-Ahmed" is a lead, but the visual suggests recent events. [...] However, the visual clues still point towards a recent conflict. The "thank you" narrative implies gratitude, sparking the idea of a Bedouin man rescuing Israelis during the Hamas attack. I'm actively using Google to explore these new avenues.

>[...]

>I've got a match! Ahmed al-Ahmed, the Bondi Beach hero, is confirmed. The snippets consistently mention December 14-15, 2025, and today's the 15th! He fits the description: Syrian refugee shop owner, tackled a gunman at a Hanukkah event, and was shot. The visual confirms a man in a white shirt being helped, with a message of thanks. This is definitely the right event!

So no "misinformation" or "glitching", just LLMs being LLMs.

[1] https://x.com/NoaMagid/status/2000196326521204984

Comment by theothertimcook 4 hours ago

It’s only trying to keep up with the torrent of insane shit a not insignificant portion of Australians are spraying on Facebook…

Comment by lawn 4 hours ago

Let's be honest about what's happening: Elon has given Grok new orders again.