Musk has faced criticism for X's handling of political topics and for his own actions. X has fewer moderation staff than other platforms, a result of Musk cutting an estimated 80% of the company’s engineers dedicated to trust and safety. Musk has also been criticized for sharing a video that used AI to clone Harris' voice, making her appear to admit to being a “diversity hire” and saying that she “doesn't know the first thing about running the country.”
Key takeaways:
- Grok, an AI-powered chatbot on the social network X, has been accused of spreading false information about Vice President Kamala Harris' eligibility to appear on some 2024 U.S. presidential ballots.
- Five secretaries of state have penned an open letter to Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and X, urging him to implement changes to Grok to ensure accurate information is provided to voters.
- The misinformation spread by Grok reached millions of users on X and beyond before it was corrected, despite being only available to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers.
- Elon Musk has been criticized for his handling of political topics on X and for stoking controversy himself, including resharing a video that used AI to clone Harris' voice, making her appear to admit to being a "diversity hire".