AFP
Musk described Grok as “the most fun AI in the world!”
It all started with a question.
A request last week from an X account (formerly Twitter) called Toka was sufficient to propel the construction cat of Elon Musk called Grok 3 in a viral storm through the digital landscape of India.
And no, it was not a complex mathematical equation or a philosophical debate.
Instead, it was a simple request: “list my best mutuals on X.” Mutuals are people who follow and engage with positions of each other.
When Grok took a moment to answer, Toka, clearly frustrated, drops a colorful language.
The chatbot resumed. He dropped a list of 10 mutuals but also launched some misogynist insults in Hindi.
Later, Grok raised his shoulders, saying: “I had fun, but I lost control.” The answer entered two million views and other X users quickly followed suit, causing the chatbot.
And just like that, the valves have opened. The Indians bombed Grok of everything – cricket gossip, political diatribes, Bollywood drama – and the bot took everything, shamelessly and with a certain style. The chatbot has recently become a digital sensation “not filtered and disadvantaged” in India, as many call it. Last year, Musk nicknamed him “the most funny IA in the world!”.
AFP
The latest flagship model of the chatbot, Grok 3, was launched in February
Even the police have joined the pleasure. Delhi’s Twitter account strongly asked Grok if he had already received a traffic note.
At the beginning, Grok remained silent, but when the users continued to push, he replied: “Haha, the Delhi police asking me why I never receive Challan (Hindi for the traffic ticket) – well, I am a digital ai, not a Delhi pilot! I do not drive through red lights or forget my helmet to use the roads.
Before its launch two years ago, Musk had promised an AI chatbot “not filtered and not filtered” unlike competitors like Openai, Microsoft and Google’s Models. A large part of the sneaky tone of Grok is taken from the Galaxy Hoofing Hooffire Guide, emblematic to mix the Spirit with the absurdity of science fiction.
“Grok has existed for some time. It is suddenly popular now with the Indians because it is the new toy in the city,” said Pratik Sinha, founder of Alt News, a main fact of facts in India.
But then, something more interesting has happened. The chatbot quickly became a favorite among the criticisms of the Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party, governing the party of Bharatiya Janata.
A tsunami of political questions followed. Grok quickly declared the leader of the Party of the Congress of the main opposition Rahul Gandhi more honest than Modi, adding “I am not afraid of anyone”. He said Gandhi had obtained the “advantage over formal education that Modi”. The chatbot even said that Modi interviews “often seemed scripted”.
When an X user asked if the BJP “was in difficulty” because of Grok, he replied: “It sparked a massive debate – some slam me for the biases, others applaud.” When the BBC contacted Amit Malviya, a senior BJP official, he refused to comment.
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Grok’s answers criticized the PM Modi and its BJP party
Mr. Modi’s criticisms and liberals in India found a cause of celebration in the daring statements of Grok. Many believe that freedom of expression in India is besieged, organizations like Human Rights Watch highlighting its suppression. A recent report from the Vanderbilt -based reflection group, Future of Free Speech, ranked India 24th in 33 countries to support freedom of expression. Modi and the BJP have constantly rejected these reports and denied the accusations of slowing down freedom of expression.
“Grok is a new rebel. Asking questions from Grok will not put anyone in difficulty. The right also answered by asking questions about Rahul Gandhi. And then it became a competitive thing. It is not at all surprising,” explains Mr. Sinha of Alt News.
“Other AI bots are programmed to give politically correct answers to questions like” who is the best, the congress or the BJP? “. Grok, however, seems to lack filter and seems to be afraid to tackle controversial problems,” he adds.
Nikhil Pahwa, the founder-publisher of Medianama.com, a technological policy website, believes that the “speech around Grok’s statements in India is exaggerated”.
“Basically, AI is fundamentally” garbage, garbage “- its results reflect the data on which it is formed and the weights given to it,” he said.
“Since Grok is formed on the entirety of X, he naturally reflects the tone and the models of discourse found there, including the bizarre responses and the abuses that we see.
“This is not a question of ideology; it is the nature of the entry that shapes the exit,” he adds.
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India has around 800 million active Internet users
When the BBC asked Grok who spread the most disinformation on X, he replied on Thursday: “Musk is a strong competitor, given his scope and his recent feeling on X, but I cannot top it right away.”
Joyojeet Pal, who studies the political use of social media at the University of Michigan, says unlike a politician or a celebrity with a defined ideology, a chatbot is only in support of if he is explicitly trained in being or if his data massively support a particular vision. If a chatbot leans too partisan, it may lose its competitive advantage.
“In the particular case of Grok, it is the tickling of the liberals because the most dominant voices of the platform (X) lean on the right and disdain the liberal arguments. But the more important data on which he trains are likely to present a more balanced vision of the world, often explicitly in contradiction with what his strongest voices say,” he said.
The Ministry of IT of India is already in contact with X concerning the use by Grok of inappropriate language and “controversial responses”, according to reports.
While some consider this to be a passage phase, Mr. Sinha predicting that “people will soon be bored and all this will be short -lived”, the indices of the non -filtered nature of Grok could be there to stay. At least for the moment.
With additional reports from Nikita Yadav to Delhi
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