Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has come under fire for repeatedly spreading far-right conspiracy theories about South Africa and expressing skepticism about facts regarding the Holocaust. Social media users quickly caught on to the bot's strange behavior and the company's explanation fell flat.

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, says an “unauthorized modification” led its Grok chatbot to post unsolicited claims on social media about the persecution and “genocide” of white people in South Africa.

Some X users on Wednesday asked Grok – the AI chatbot available through Elon Musk’s social media platform – questions about simple topics like baseball players or videos of fish being flushed down toilets.