Grok chatbot stirs backlash over Holocaust death toll response

Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI and integrated into social platform X, came under fire this week after it questioned the documented death toll of Jews during the Holocaust.

The controversy began when Grok responded to a user query about the Holocaust by citing the commonly accepted figure of six million Jewish deaths under Nazi Germany.

However, it added a disclaimer expressing "skepticism of these figures without primary evidence" and warned that numbers "can be manipulated for political narratives."

While the chatbot stated that the genocide was "undeniable" and something it "unequivocally condemned" its remarks triggered backlash from experts and watchdogs, with many citing the US Department of State’s definition of Holocaust denial, which includes minimising victim numbers against established sources.

In a follow-up post on Friday, Grok said this response was “not intentional denial” and instead blamed it on “a May 14, 2025, programming error.”

"An unauthorised change caused Grok to question mainstream narratives, including the Holocaust’s 6 million death toll, sparking controversy," it said.

The bot also stated it "now aligns with historical consensus," though it maintained that "academic debate on exact figures" exists—a claim critics said risked further confusion.

Earlier in the week, Grok faced similar scrutiny for pushing content referencing "white genocide," a racist conspiracy theory. That, too, was attributed to the same unauthorized update.

xAI has yet to clarify who was behind the code alteration or how it was allowed into production.