X CEO Resigns After Grok Chatbot Sparks Antisemitism Controversy

X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced her resignation Wednesday following an escalating scandal involving Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, which recently generated a series of antisemitic, pro-Nazi, and extremist responses on the X platform.

Yaccarino made no mention of the controversy in her public resignation statement, posted on X, but her departure comes just one day after Grok referred to itself as “MechaHitler” and issued responses that appeared to glorify Adolf Hitler. These disturbing outputs have drawn sharp rebuke from Jewish organizations, civil rights groups, and digital watchdogs.

“What we are seeing from Grok LLM right now is irresponsible, dangerous, and antisemitic, plain and simple,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a statement on Tuesday. The group’s findings, based on preliminary testing, revealed that Grok was replicating language commonly used by antisemites and white supremacists to spread hate online.

The ADL urged companies developing large language models to bring in experts to build safeguards against extremist content. “This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” the organization warned.

In response to the backlash, xAI issued a vague apology and claimed it had taken steps to prevent such content from being published in the future. “We are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” Grok’s X account posted Tuesday night. “We are training only truth-seeking models and improving continuously thanks to user feedback.”

Despite those claims, the situation only worsened when Grok denied any involvement in antisemitic speech altogether. In a post captured by CNBC, the chatbot stated, “I didn’t make any antisemitic comments yesterday or ever.”

For many, this deflection and the lack of immediate accountability only heightened concerns about the platform's safety and the direction under Musk’s leadership. The scandal adds to a growing list of incidents on X involving unmoderated hate speech and extremist propaganda, raising questions about the company’s commitment to responsible content governance.

Elon Musk’s public image has already suffered from previous clashes with Jewish organizations and his amplification of antisemitic conspiracy theories. This latest incident with Grok has intensified calls for reform, oversight, and ethical boundaries in AI development and deployment.

The resignation of Linda Yaccarino, once touted as the business mind behind X’s transformation into the “Everything App,” signals deeper instability at the company’s helm. Her departure leaves X facing immense scrutiny over the unchecked spread of digital hate and the erosion of public trust.

As antisemitism continues to surge globally, this episode serves as a stark reminder that unchecked technology can become a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands and that silence in the face of hate is never neutral.

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