Grok Has Gone Wild

Issue #341 | May 15, 2025

Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot has seemingly gone rogue and can’t stop talking about South African apartheid. The bot is replying to completely unrelated tweets with commentary about “white genocide” and “kill the boer.”

On Wednesday, the account Discussing Film, which posts movie and film updates, posted on X about HBO renaming its app. A user replied, “@grok how many times has HBO changed their name?”

The bot gave a brief reply about HBO, and then entered into a rant about “white genocide” in South Africa, noting that some claim it’s real and that “truth is complex.” In the past hour, Grok has tweeted dozens of times about “white genocide.”

There is no explanation for why the bot might be malfunctioning.

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– Taylor Lorenz, Passionfruit Contributor

PERSONALITIES

Beast Games Has Been Renewed For Two More Seasons

The announcement is hardly surprising.

By Charlotte Colombo, Passionfruit Contributor

A photo collage image of Mr. Beast on the first episode of his Amazon game show Beast Games.

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There’s a reason mobile home parks are getting so much institutional love

They remain one of the key affordable-housing sources nationally, have limited supply and high tenant retention (10-12Y). Investors can see tremendous upside with professionally-managed MHP portfolios such as Vintage Capital’s, which targets a 15-17% IRR and makes monthly distributions. Invest directly in individual deals or via a 10+ property fund. 1031s also available.

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IN THE BIZ

Meta’s beef with the press is surfacing at its antitrust trial.
Pinterest apologized for a wave of moderation issues that led to mass bans.
TikTok is launching a meditation feature to help users get off the app and sleep.
YouTube announced that it has been the most-watched content distributor across TV and streaming in the U.S. since February.

PLATFORMS

TikTok Rolls Out a Suite of Accessibility Tools

This is the latest in a long line of accessibility features.

By Charlotte Colombo, Passionfruit Contributor

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photo collage of TikTok on phone and Non-Hearing Accessibility Icon

PLATFORMS

SoundCloud Updates Terms of Use Amid AI Scandal

Can the company recover from this?

By Charlotte Colombo, Passionfruit Contributor

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UPCOMING EVENTS

WITS Travel Creator Summit is May 16-18 in New York City, New York.
VidCon is June 19-21 in Anaheim, California.
Open Sauce is July 18-20 in San Francisco, California.
Creator Economy Live is August 5-6 in New York City, New York.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

The Babish Culinary Universe has been putting out quality cooking content for years, often recreating recipes featured in film, television and video games.

In this video, Babish completed a Disney recipe marathon, including dishes like ratatouille from Ratatouille and tamales from Coco. Check it out!