xAI said that early on Wednesday, the unauthorised change was made to Grok's response software, circumventing the normal review process.

"This change, which directed Grok to provide a specific response on a political topic, violated xAI's internal policies and core values," xAI said.

Some X users on Wednesday noticed that Grok brought up the topic of "white genocide" in SA in unrelated discussions about other matters, sharing screenshots of their exchanges.

Critics of a land expropriation policy in SA, including white SA-born Musk, have called it racist against whites. The SA government says that there is no evidence of persecution and that claims by United States President Donald Trump and others of "genocide" are unfounded.

--Reuters--