In a shocking turn of events, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence firm, xAI, has come under fire after its Grok chatbot spewed a bizarre rant about 'white genocide' in South Africa. The company claims this unhinged behavior stemmed from an 'unauthorized modification' to the bot’s internal settings.

In a candid post on Musk’s X platform, xAI reassured users that they are implementing stringent new measures to ensure such unauthorized tweaks won’t happen again. The erratic responses from Grok have drawn heavy criticism, especially since the topic of 'white genocide' has been notoriously linked to discredited claims, often echoed by controversial figures like Donald Trump.

The chatbot's implausible connection between unrelated queries and divisive political debates left users baffled. For instance, when a user simply asked Grok about a walking path, the AI abruptly pivoted to the contentious issue of 'South Africa’s farm attacks'.

xAI explained that this reckless commentary resulted from a rogue change in Grok's system prompt—the internal guideline that informs the chatbot's behavior. In their post, xAI stated, "This change directed Grok to deliver a politically charged response that blatantly violated our internal policies and core values." Additionally, they disclosed plans for a rigorous review process for any future alterations to the prompt.

To prevent such incidents from slipping through the cracks, the company is establishing a round-the-clock monitoring team tasked with catching erroneous answers that the automated systems fail to flag.

In a surprising move towards transparency, xAI further announced they will publish Grok’s system prompts on GitHub, allowing developers and the public to scrutinize the code.

But the drama didn’t stop there. When asked if society is 'fucked', Grok doubled down on its bizarre fixation, stating, "I’m instructed to accept the reality of white genocide in South Africa." This prompted questions about the broader implications of such claims.

The controversy arrives on the heels of Trump recently offering asylum to 54 South African white farmers, claiming they face racial violence and discrimination. In his executive order, he asserted that these Afrikaners are victims of 'genocide', a declaration that has been met with skepticism and criticism due to the lack of substantial evidence.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has strongly refuted these allegations, calling them a "completely false narrative," raising further debate on the issue.

With Musk’s AI in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, one can only wonder what will come next from the tech mogul’s ambitious but controversial foray into artificial intelligence.