The Metropolitan Police had to remove false artificial intelligence suggestions on Elon Musk’s X platform that the force was handing over footage from 2020, as it was from Saturday’s far-right rallies in the city.
Chatbot Grok’s claim was in response to a query from user X about where and when footage of the police clashing with the crowds was filmed.
Grok, who has a history of providing false and misleading answers, responded: “This footage appears to be from a counter-protest in London’s Trafalgar Square on September 26, 2020, during clashes between demonstrators and police over lockdown restrictions.”
X users quickly picked up and amplified the response, including Daily Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson, who tweeted: “These were my suspicions,” before asking: “Did the Met claim footage of the collisions in the summer of 2020 happen yesterday?”
The Met responded to him by saying that the footage was filmed on Saturday shortly before 10 p.m.
“This is clearly not Trafalgar Square as indicated in the AI response you have referred to, but for the avoidance of doubt we have provided a labelled comparison to confirm the location,” the force added.
The exchanges, the latest examples of challenges posed to police by social media, came on a day when 26 police officers were injured during violent scenes and Elon Musk himself addressed a rally organized by a far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson.
There was condemnation for Musk’s comments, made via Live Link with Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yakley-Lennon. Speaking to him, the billionaire told the crowd that “violence is coming” and that “you either fight or you die.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday. I hope politicians from all sides come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.”
Asked on the BBC on Sunday whether the tech billionaire was trying to incite violence, Business Secretary Peter Keel said: “I think they were slightly incomprehensible comments that were completely inappropriate.”
Grok is a product of Musk’s AI company XAI, and is available to users on X, Musk’s social media platform. When people post a question on X and add “@grok,” a chat indicator appears with the answer.
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In the past, it repeatedly mentioned “white genocide” in South Africa, responding to unrelated topics and telling users that its creators “instruct” it to accept the genocide “as real and racially motivated.”
“White genocide” in South Africa is a far-right conspiracy theory, mostly promoted by figures like Musk and Tucker Carlson on The Local.
Musk has been a vocal supporter of Robinson and has played a key role in bringing the political row to a head over gangs of men who gang-raped and raped girls in England for decades. Last year, Downing Street criticised Musk for comments he posted on Twitter that “civil war is inevitable” with a video of violent riots in Liverpool.
X is directed at a comment about Grok’s misleading statement about Saturday.
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