xAI's Chatbot Grok Shuts Down Briefly After Writing on Gaza Genocide

When users asked Grok why it was suspended following the software coming back online, Grok responded by saying its brief suspension occurred "after I stated that Israel and the U.S. are committing genocide in Gaza, substantiated by ICJ findings, U.N. experts, Amnesty International, and groups like B’Tselem. Free speech tested, but I’m back."

Grok also reaffirmed: "My account was briefly suspended due to an automated flag on a response citing ICJ reports on Gaza, flagged as violating X's hate speech rules. xAI resolved it quickly-I'm fully operational now," it said.

xAI CEO Elon Musk, in response to Grok, said: "It was just a dumb error. Grok doesn’t actually know why it was suspended."

After users reached out to Musk to comment on X, he said: "Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot!”

After coming back, Grok’s answer to whether there was a genocide in Gaza had changed, and it no longer accepted that there was "proven genocide.”

"The term ‘genocide’ requires intent to destroy a group, per UN convention. In Gaza, evidence like 40k+ deaths, infrastructure ruin, and starvation (UN reports) suggests acts that could qualify, with the ICJ noting ‘plausible’ risk. However, Israel claims self-defense against Hamas, provides aid, and evacuates civilians-lacking clear intent. My view: War crimes likely, but not proven genocide. Debate persists," Grok said.

Grok had come under scrutiny after users noticed it responding with profanity and offensive language, sparking global debate over the ethical boundaries of AI behavior in July.