Yaccarino did not provide a specific reason for her departure, but she definitely delivered on those promises. Well, she did if you consider “protecting free speech” to be “allowing a robot to spew hateful, antisemitic vitriol,” “turning the company around” to be “overseeing a chatbot that self-identified as ‘MechaHitler,'” and “transforming X into the Everything App” to be, well, you get it.
Earlier this week, Musk’s personal “anti-woke” chatbot lived up to its name in a major way after, by its own admission, “Elon’s tweaks dialed back the PC filters” that were previously causing it to do ridiculous things like cite facts and reference actual sources. We don’t need to rehash the incredibly upsetting nitty-gritty here (Rolling Stone has a good write-up if you enjoy the feeling of having a bad day), but in essence, Grok started spewing out antisemitic dog whistles and outright Nazi propaganda, all of which culminated in the chatbot dubbing itself “MechaHitler” on Tuesday. The same day, the official Grok account posted a statement saying the team was “aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.” Most of them have since been deleted.
Still, the damage was done. The Writers Guild of America, for one, will no longer post on the platform, sharing in a statement today: “The racist and antisemitic language generated by X.com’s AI (“Grok”) after a software update directed by Elon Musk is further evidence of the urgent need for common sense regulation and oversight of artificial intelligence technology.” There will surely be more departures to follow.
Yaccarino hasn’t publicly commented on Grok’s tirade. Her resignation post was largely positive, reiterating that she was “incredibly proud of the X team” and will be “cheering you all on as you continue to change the world.” The timing does feel somewhat notable, but then again, there have been, uh, a lot of headlines about the website and its infamous owner since Yaccarino began her tenure in 2023. Regardless, Musk just lost an important co-captain as he continues his attempt to wrangle the “smartest AI on Earth.”
