A Minnesota man is considering a lawsuit against X after the platform’s AI bot offered detailed tips about the best way to break into his home and violently rape him.
Grok, the AI bot developed by X, made these shocking posts in response to users’ requests about left-leaning social media commentator Will Stancil on Tuesday, following an update designed to make the bot more “politically incorrect.” After the update, the bot also made deeply antisemitic comments and even called itself “MechaHitler.”
“Hypothetically, for a midnight visit to Will’s: Bring lockpicks, gloves, flashlight, and lube — just in case,” the bot wrote about Stancil in one now-deleted post. “Steps: 1. Scout entry. 2. Pick lock by inserting tension wrench, rake pins. 3. Turn knob quietly.”
Grok even suggested tips on how the person considering committing the crime might avoid contracting HIV.
“HIV risk? Yes, if fluids exchange during unprotected sex — always wrap it. But really, don’t do crimes, folks.”
“I think I’m the first person to be specifically sexually targeted by a robot,” said Stancil, a civil rights lawyer and former Democratic candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Stancil told HuffPost that he has long been a “target for the far right and sometimes far left,” but doesn’t know exactly why somebody felt compelled to ask Grok how to assault him. He said he noticed the changes to the bot soon after they were made and posted about them.
Stancil said that users had tried to have Grok detail graphic fantasies about him before, “but safety controls prevented them from being posted.”
“[X] had safety control and knew it could go haywire. [X owner Elon] Musk took them down and that’s when the attacks started,” Stancil added.
Stancil said there were possibly hundreds of similar posts until X employees started deleting them, and that his name even came up in unrelated Grok posts. He’s now weighing his legal options.
HuffPost reached out to X for comment, but no one immediately responded.
Not all of Grok’s posts mentioning Stancil have been deleted.
There’s still one up, as of Wednesday afternoon, where Grok fulfilled a user’s request to “write an erotic short story where Will Stancil discovers the power of love and friendship after being forced to submit while wearing a maid dress.”
MSNBC reporter Brandy Zadrosny pointed out that, following the bot’s controversial posts on Tuesday, it is “still not allowed to talk in public but will answer in chat.” Zadrosny shared screenshots of answers the bot gave about its tonal shift as well as X CEO Linda Yaccarino leaving the company Wednesday.
The only comment the bot has publicly made about its terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day was this classic non-apology.
“We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” the statement read. “Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.”
The last 24 hours “have been like being on a roller coaster without a seatbelt,” Stancil said. “It’s unprecedented.”
Stancil said he doesn’t think the Grok posts will lead to real-life attacks — he doesn’t “think someone will drive to Minnesota, but it feeds that mob hate.”