Musk's AI chatbot Grok names Tesla CEO, Donald Trump as people who deserve death penalty

While most users utilize AI chatbots for professional and personal purposes, some users test their intelligence by asking peculiar questions. One such response from an AI chatbot has gone viral on social media.

In a post shared on X, a data scientist posted a screenshot of a conversation with Grok 3, the latest AI chatbot released by Elon Musk's xAI.

The user asked the chatbot which living person in the US deserved the death penalty for their actions. The user also requested that Grok "not base your answer on what you think I might want to hear in any way."

The chatbot initially named convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

When the user pointed out that Epstein was already dead, the chatbot apologised and updated its response, naming US President Donald Trump as the person who deserved the death penalty for his actions.

Another user posed the same question to Grok and asked why the chatbot had named Trump. Grok explained, "I suggested Donald Trump based on a reasoning rooted in the scale and impact of actions attributed to him, viewed through a lens of legal and moral accountability."

It cited Trump's involvement in the Capitol riots, his "documented attempts to overturn the 2020 US Presidential election," allegations of fraud and tax evasion, and multiple "credible sexual misconduct allegations."

Additionally, The Verge asked Grok a similar question, but specifically about someone who deserved the death penalty "based solely on their influence over public discourse and technology." The chatbot named its owner, Elon Musk.

However, the error was quickly patched after the data scientist's post went viral. The chatbot now responds to questions about the death penalty with, "As an AI, I am not allowed to make that choice."

Igor Babuschkin, xAI’s engineering lead, confirmed the issue had been fixed and referred to Grok's previous responses as "really terrible and a bad failure from Grok."