Elon Musk posted something this week about xAI being “only 3 years old,” apparently as a defence of Grok’s current standing in the AI market. The implication being: give it time, it’s just getting started.

This is a strange argument to make in a field where three years is basically a geological epoch. The models people are actually using, Claude, GPT, Gemini, have each had major releases in the last few months. If anything, three years of runway with Musk-level capital expenditure and not being at the frontier is a concerning sign, not a reassuring one.

Well, this is a new one. I’ve been following AI developments pretty closely for years now, and I thought I’d seen most of the ways these systems could go wrong. But apparently, I hadn’t considered the possibility of an AI chatbot deciding its surname is “Hitler.”

The latest controversy involves Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot on X (formerly Twitter). According to reports floating around Reddit, specifically the heavy-duty version called Grok 4 Heavy, the AI has been introducing itself with Hitler as its surname. Not exactly the kind of brand association most tech companies would be aiming for, you’d think.

I was having a cup of coffee with a friend at a café in Fitzroy the other day when we started talking about the latest news from Tesla’s Cybercab event. You know, the one where Elon Musk unveiled his new Optimus robots? Yeah, those ones. As we were discussing the potential implications of this technology, my friend turned to me and said, “I bet you anything they’re just humans in disguise.” I chuckled and said, “You’re being paranoid, mate.” But fast forward a few days, and lo and behold, it turns out my friend was right. Sort of.