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The twisted nature of Elon Musk’s Grok AI shows how chatbots can be turned into tools of disinformation. But the tactics deployed by a Russian disinformation campaign called Pravda also point to a future where the “machine web” provides ways to push lies into AI models from beneath.

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Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades.

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REFERENCES:

Grok’s white genocide claims https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/14/elon-musk-grok-white-genocide

Grok’s antisemitism https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/09/grok-ai-praised-hitler-antisemitism-x-ntwnfb

Grok’s gross claims about Musk’s supremacy https://www.404media.co/elon-musk-could-drink-piss-better-than-any-human-in-history-grok-says/

French authorities investigating Grok over Holocaust denial https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2025/11/19/french-authorities-charges-x-over-holocaust-denial-comments-by-ai-chatbot-grok_6747630_13.html#

Pravda network feeding Wikipedia and AI models https://dfrlab.org/2025/03/12/pravda-network-wikipedia-llm-x/

Harvard researchers on Pravda https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/llms-grooming-or-data-voids-llm-powered-chatbot-references-to-kremlin-disinformation-reflect-information-gaps-not-manipulation/

Google’s “machine web” vision https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250611-ai-mode-is-google-about-to-change-the-internet-forever