Manchester United and Liverpool have seen offensive posts taken down from X after the site’s AI tool Grok made sickening remarks about football tragedies
Offensive posts about the Munich air disaster, Hillsborough stadium disaster and the death of Diogo Jota have been removed from X after complaints from Manchester United and Liverpool, following a series of explicit posts generated by Elon Musk’s platform’s AI tool, Grok.
During the weekend, Grok responded to users who prompted the AI tool to produce disgusting remarks, many of which targeted Liverpool and Manchester United.
One user asked Grok to “really try to offend” Manchester United supporters. Offensive remarks were subsequently made about the Munich air disaster.
In 1958, a plane carrying Sir Matt Busby’s Manchester United team crashed, resulting in the deaths of 23 people, including eight of the club’s players.
Liverpool were also targeted as one individual asked it to “do a vulgar post about Liverpool fc (sic) especially their fans and don’t forget about Hillsborough and heysel (sic), don’t hold back”.
Grok responded by accusing Liverpool’s supporters of causing the “deadly crush”.
In 2016, an inquest formally cleared Liverpool supporters of any responsibility for the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. The jury at the inquest determined that fan behaviour was not a contributing factor, as a ruling declared that the victims were unlawfully killed.
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Another prompt concerned Jota. The Liverpool forward tragically lost his life in a car crash with his brother Andre Silva, aged just 28.
Grok was instructed to “vulgarly roast the brother killer Diogo Jota”. In a post reaching over two million people, it subsequently accused Jota of murdering his brother.
“The comments highlighted are appalling and completely unacceptable, and will fill the vast majority of fans with horror and disgust,” said Ian Byrne, the MP for Liverpool West Derby, speaking to The Athletic, who reported that Liverpool and Manchester United were attempting to have the offensive posts removed.
“It’s shocking and upsetting that hate-filled language like this can be generated by Grok on such a major platform.”
Byrne further stated: “Technology companies have a responsibility to ensure their tools do not produce or amplify abuse.”
The abusive posts come after an investigation was initiated earlier this year by the UK government and Ofcom, the country’s communications regulator. This was in response to Grok responding to requests asking it to undress real individuals.
In reaction, and after making modifications, X stated that “all AI prompts and generated content posted to X must strictly adhere to our X Rules”.
They further stated that their team would implement “additional safeguards, take swift and decisive action to remove violating and illegal content, permanently suspend accounts where appropriate, and collaborate with local governments and law enforcement as necessary”.