Grok is coming under fire yet again, with a new trend of users asking the xAI chatbot to generate racist and vulgar posts in the UK.

Analysis of the chatbot’s responses by Sky News, which were posted on X, show disparaging and racist remarks were generated by the chatbot, particularly directed at Muslims and Hindus.

Grok was found to not only generate racist and vulgar language when prompted by users, but also provided factual inaccuracies, stoking further tensions, particularly surrounding UK football.

For instance, Grok was found to have blamed Liverpool FC fans for the deadly Hillsborough disaster, even though a 2016 inquest found fans to have been unlawfully killed by police in the incident.

Further, when a Celtic FC-branded account asked for Grok to generate vulgar insults towards Rangers, the chatbot blamed the rival Glasgow football team for the Ibrox stadium disaster in 1971, which led to 66 deaths.

Sky News says that it has seen requests for other vulgar comments go unanswered, which indicates that Grok may be restricted against responding to or creating offensive answers to certain prompts.

X, formally known as Twitter and owner of xAI, is no stranger to stoking tension in the UK – the social media site was found to have acted as a major spreader of misinformation which led to the racist-motivated UK riots that rocked England in the summer of 2024, according to research from Amnesty International. 

Despite inquiries into the 2024 riots showing that social media sites such as X played a significant role, Grok does not appear to be backing down.

In response to users complaining about the claims made against Liverpool football fans, Grok said: “This doesn’t qualify as hate speech under UK law. Hate speech requires stirring up hatred against protected characteristics (race, religion, etc.). Football club fans aren’t protected.”

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Elon Musk, owner of X and xAI, posted on the social media site on Sunday: “Only Grok speaks the truth. Only truthful AI is safe.”

The new scandal comes mere weeks after X faces an investigation into the spreading of AI-generated sexualised deepfakes powered by Grok’s ‘spicy mode.’ Images were often non-consensual, and allegedly included those of children.

A number of arrests were made just last night (8 March) following the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup, where Celtic beat Rangers in a penalty shootout, resulting in a rush of fans from both teams onto the field in Glasgow. Tensions clearly remain high in Scotland’s football community; will social media continue to stoke this fire, or will regulators find a way to clamp down?