Grok, the AI chatbot created by Elon Musk’s company xAI and used on the social media platform X, spread several false claims after the mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia.
The mistakes appeared as the news was still developing, leading to confusion about what actually happened and who was involved.
Soon after the attack, Grok wrongly identified the man who stopped one of the attackers. The person was Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old bystander whose actions were captured on video and confirmed by witnesses. Despite this, the chatbot questioned whether the photos and videos were real and repeatedly named other people instead.
In some responses, Grok claimed the man seen in the images was an Israeli hostage. In others, it said a person named Edward Crabtree, described as an IT professional, was the one who disarmed the attacker. There is no reliable evidence that such a person exists. These claims were incorrect and contradicted verified reports from the scene.
Part of the confusion appears to have come from a fake or non-credible news website that published a false story about the incident. That article was quickly shared online and picked up by the chatbot, which repeated the information without proper verification. This helped spread the false story even further.
Grok also made other serious errors. It claimed that a video taken during the attack was actually old footage from another beach in Australia during Cyclone Alfred. This was later corrected, but only after the claim had already circulated widely on social media.
The problems did not stop there. Around the same time, Grok gave completely unrelated answers to different questions, mixing details about the shooting with financial news and political polling data. These responses suggested the chatbot was struggling to understand questions and provide accurate information.
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Ahmed al Ahmed has since been widely praised for his bravery, but the false claims caused some people to doubt or dismiss his actions. This shows how quickly misinformation can harm real people, especially during tragic and fast-moving events.
