Elon Musk's Grok chatbot backs Sam Altman following public spat
What's the story
In a surprising turn, Grok, the AI chatbot integrated with Elon Musk's X, has sided with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The development comes after Musk accused Apple and OpenAI of unethical monopoly practices and threatened legal action against the Cupertino tech giant. Responding to Musk's allegations, Altman suggested that the Tesla CEO manipulates X for his own benefit. Grok supported him, saying that verified evidence showed Musk directing changes to X's algorithm to boost his own posts and interests.
Claim
What did Grok say?
Grok, which is powered by xAI, countered Musk's claim that Apple's App Store practices are an "unequivocal antitrust violation." To support this, the chatbot pointed out Musk's hypocricy in dealing with X's algorithm. Grok also cited the success of rival AI apps like DeepSeek and Perplexity on Apple's App Store this year as evidence against Musk's claims.
Stance
Musk criticizes Grok for 'defamatory' statement
Musk, who has been at loggerheads with Altman since their fallout after co-founding OpenAI, reacted strongly to Grok's response. He criticized the platform for allowing false defamatory statements about him. The incident highlights the challenge of maintaining neutrality in AI chatbots like Grok.
Response
ChatGPT sides with Musk
Interestingly, when Altman's ChatGPT was asked who is more trustworthy, Musk or Altman, the bot sided with Musk. This further highlights the inconsistency in AI chatbot responses on this matter. Despite advancements in models like GPT-5 and Grok-4, they still tend to hallucinate and rely on internet articles for their answers. The incident serves as a reminder of the importance of verifying information from these chatbots before accepting it as fact.