X’s AI bot is so dumb it can’t tell the difference between a bad game and vandalism<p>Last night, Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson had a rough outing <a data-i13n="elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:CBS Sports;elmt:;cpos:1;pos:1" href="
https://shopping.yahoo.com/rdlw?merchantId=e1bd1176-81e2-43f7-a388-f7abd24076a9&siteId=us-engadget&pageId=1p-autolink&featureId=text-link&merchantName=CBS+Sports&custData=eyJzb3VyY2VOYW1lIjoiV2ViLURlc2t0b3AtVmVyaXpvbiIsImxhbmRpbmdVcmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5jYnNzcG9ydHMuY29tL25iYS9wbGF5ZXJzLzE2NDc1NTkva2xheS10aG9tcHNvbi9nYW1lLWxvZy8iLCJjb250ZW50VXVpZCI6Ijk4MjdkN2E2LWZiNTctNDhjOC05NDk0LWQ1MDQ0MzQ4YjBkMSJ9&signature=AQAAAbfEWjESnsUiQdwtoe4XDXljvdX7HrR1a2TrszZ6_X8a&gcReferrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnba%2Fplayers%2F1647559%2Fklay-thompson%2Fgame-log%2F" class="rapid-with-clickid" data-original-link="
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/players/1647559/klay-thompson/game-log/">shooting 0 for 10[/url] in a loss against the Sacramento Kings, ending the team’s chances of making the NBA playoffs. But then, almost as if to add insult to injury, X’s AI bot Grok <a data-i13n="cpos:2;pos:1" href="
https://twitter.com/i/trending/1780463179388117057">
generated a trending story[/url] claiming Thompson was vandalizing homes in the area with bricks.</p>
<p>Now at this point, even casual basketball fans may be able to see what went wrong. But Grok isn’t very smart, because it seems that after seeing user posts about a player simply <a data-i13n="cpos:3;pos:1" href="
https://x.com/kendra__andrews/status/1780452166953845218">
missing a bunch of shots[/url] (aka <a data-i13n="cpos:4;pos:1" href="
https://www.sportslingo.com/sports-glossary/b/brick/">shooting bricks[/url]), the bot took things literally resulting in a completely fictitious AI-generated report.</p>
<span id="end-legacy-contents"></span><figure><img src="
https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2024-04/65b50910-fcd9-11ee-9f9d-76f77b020b58" data-crop-orig-src="
https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2024-04/65b50910-fcd9-11ee-9f9d-76f77b020b58" style="height:385px;width:898px;" alt="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. " data-uuid="e835d128-d2a3-3ad9-86c0-9973d79ae908"><figcaption>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. </figcaption><div class="photo-credit">Screenshot by Sam Rutherford (via X)</div></figure>
<p>In the event this fabrication — which was the #5 trending story at the time of writing — gets corrected or deleted by Elon Musk, Grok originally wrote “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.” Amusingly, despite pointing out the unusual nature of the story Grok went ahead of put out some nonsense anyway.</p>
<p>Granted, in fine print beneath the story, X says “Grok is an early feature and can make mistakes. Verify its outputs.” But even that warning seems to have backfired, as basketball fans began memeing on the AI with posts sarcastically verifying the AI’s erroneous statement.</p>
<figure><img src="
https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2024-04/18ad2fd0-fcd9-11ee-bf6b-9b2f966624b5" data-crop-orig-src="
https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2024-04/18ad2fd0-fcd9-11ee-bf6b-9b2f966624b5" style="height:1035px;width:647px;" alt="After Grok created an erroneous story about Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, users began memeing on the situation. " data-uuid="65fbb7c5-cff8-32e5-b49b-8994bbe8389d"><figcaption>After Grok created an erroneous story about Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, users began memeing on the situation. </figcaption><div class="photo-credit">Screenshot by Sam Rutherford (via X)</div></figure>
<p>For most people, Grok’s latest gaff may merely be another example in an ongoing series of early <a data-i13n="cpos:5;pos:1" href="
https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-explains-bings-bizarre-ai-chat-behavior-134931486.html">
AI tools[/url] <a data-i13n="cpos:6;pos:1" href="
https://www.engadget.com/the-humane-ai-pin-is-the-solution-to-none-of-technologys-problems-120002469.html">
messing[/url] <a data-i13n="cpos:7;pos:1" href="
https://www.engadget.com/nycs-business-chatbot-is-reportedly-doling-out-dangerously-inaccurate-information-203926922.html">
up[/url]. But for others like Musk who believes that AI will be smarter than humans <a data-i13n="cpos:8;pos:1" href="
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-predicts-ai-smarter-143930561.html">
as soon as the end of next year[/url], this should serve as a reminder that AI is still in desperate need of regular fact-checking.</p>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=rssSource:
X’s AI bot is so dumb it can’t tell the difference between a bad game and vandalism
