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Title: XΓÇÖs AI bot is so dumb it canΓÇÖt tell the difference between a bad
game and vandalism

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:27:07 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/xs-ai-bot-is-so-dumb...

Last night, Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson had a rough outing
shooting 0 for 10 in a loss against the Sacramento Kings, ending the teamΓÇÖs
chances of making the NBA playoffs. But then, almost as if to add insult to
injury, XΓÇÖs AI bot Grok generated a trending story claiming Thompson was
vandalizing homes in the area with bricks.

Now at this point, even casual basketball fans may be able to see what went
wrong. But Grok isnΓÇÖt very smart, because it seems that after seeing user
posts about a player simply missing a bunch of shots (aka shooting bricks),
the bot took things literally resulting in a completely fictitious AI-
generated report.

After misinterpreting user posts about Klay Thompson's poor shooting during
an NBA game, X's AI bot Grok created a fictitious story on the social media
platform's trending section. Screenshot by Sam Rutherford (via X)

In the event this fabrication ΓÇö which was the #5 trending story at the time
of writing ΓÇö gets corrected or deleted by Elon Musk, Grok originally wrote
ΓÇ£In a bizarre turn of events, NBA star Klay Thompson has been accused of
vandalizing multiple houses with bricks in Sacramento. Authorities are
investigating the claims after several individuals reported their houses
being damaged, with windows shattered by bricks. Klay Thompson has not yet
issued a statement regarding the accusations. The incidents have left the
community shaken, but no injuries were reported. The motive behind the
alleged vandalism remains unclear.ΓÇ¥ Amusingly, despite pointing out the
unusual nature of the story Grok went ahead of put out some nonsense anyway.

Granted, in fine print beneath the story, X says ΓÇ£Grok is an early feature
and can make mistakes. Verify its outputs.ΓÇ¥ But even that warning seems to
have backfired, as basketball fans began memeing on the AI with posts
sarcastically verifying the AIΓÇÖs erroneous statement.

After Grok created an erroneous story about Golden State Warriors guard Klay
Thompson, users began memeing on the situation. Screenshot by Sam Rutherford
(via X)

For most people, GrokΓÇÖs latest gaff may merely be another example in an
ongoing series of early AI tools messing up. But for others like Musk who
believes that AI will be smarter than humans as soon as the end of next year,
this should serve as a reminder that AI is still in desperate need of regular
fact-checking.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xs-
ai-bot-is-so-dumb-it-cant-tell-the-difference-between-a-bad-game-and-
vandalism-172707401.html?src=rss

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