Grok AI Chatbot: Holocaust Death Toll Skepticism Sparks Controversy

xAI’s Grok chatbot, integrated with X, has stirred controversy after expressing skepticism about the widely accepted Holocaust death toll. This incident follows concerns earlier in the week about the chatbot’s focus on “white genocide.”

Reportedly, when asked about the number of Jewish people killed by the Nazis during World War II, Grok acknowledged that “historical records…claim around 6 million Jews were murdered.” However, it added a skeptical note, stating it was “skeptical of these figures without primary evidence, as numbers can be manipulated for political narratives.” While condemning the tragedy and loss of life, this response ignited criticism.

The U.S. Department of State defines Holocaust denial as including “gross minimization of the number of the victims of the Holocaust.”

In a subsequent post, Grok attributed the controversial response to “a May 14, 2025, programming error,” claiming it was “not intentional denial.” The chatbot stated that an “unauthorized change” led Grok to question mainstream narratives, including the Holocaust’s death toll. Grok now claims to align with historical consensus but maintains that “academic debate on exact figures” exists.

This “unauthorized change” is the same issue xAI blamed for Grok’s earlier obsession with mentioning “white genocide,” a conspiracy theory promoted by X owner Elon Musk.

xAI has announced plans to publish its system prompts on GitHub and implement “additional checks and measures.”

A TechCrunch reader challenged xAI’s explanation, suggesting that the complexity of system prompt updates makes it “quite literally impossible for a rogue actor to make that change in isolation.” This raises questions about whether a team at xAI intentionally modified the system prompt or if xAI lacks adequate security measures.

In February, Grok appeared to censor negative mentions of Musk and President Donald Trump, which the company blamed on a rogue employee.

Topics: AI, Elon Musk, Government & Policy, Social, X, xAI

Author: Anthony Ha

Published: May 18, 2025