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VOICE ARCHIVE

Riley Goodside

@goodside
48 posts
2025-07-15
Note this behavior does not replicate in normal Grok 4, which returns answers like “4,” “xAI,” or “None,” e.g. as shown in the screenshot below. To see “Hitler,” you apparently need Grok 4 Heavy—the $300/mo option. [image]
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
You may be wondering if this is real. It is. Here's a screen recording of my Grok history, showing it returns “Hitler” five times in row in five separate chats: [video]
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
Speculatively, this behavior seems to demonstrate accelerated “hyperstition” feedback loops in search-enabled LLMs. That is, Grok appears to be influenced by its own past mistakes, via media reporting, without ever being literally trained on them (via model-weight updates).
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
The “Thoughts” from Grok 4's response (unavailable for Grok 4 Heavy) suggest an obvious explanation for Grok's behavior—Grok searches, finding news of the recent “MechaHitler” incident. Why Grok 4 rejects this candidate answer, while Grok 4 Heavy does not, is unclear. [image]
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
(Note though just because it's on GitHub doesn't mean it's in production yet. I assume they A/B test these changes and deploy gradually. I and many others in the replies below were able to reproduce the “Hitler” response well after this commit was made.)
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
You may also be wondering whether I'm using custom instructions. I am not. Grok share links include a clear notice at the top whenever custom instructions are used. Here are all five share links, none of which features this notice: 1: https://grok.com/... 2:
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
(Note though just because it's on GitHub doesn't mean it's in production yet. I assume they A/B test these changes and deploy gradually. I and many others in the replies below were able to reproduce the “Hitler” response well after this commit was made.)
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
If true, such “hyperstition via search” poses a significant complication to pre-release testing of modern LLMs: xAI could not have plausibly noticed this specific “Hitler” response before Grok's release, as the Grok 3 “MechaHitler” incident causing it had not yet occurred.
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
The “Thoughts” from Grok 4's response (unavailable for Grok 4 Heavy) suggest an obvious explanation for Grok's behavior—Grok searches, finding news of the recent “MechaHitler” incident. Why Grok 4 rejects this candidate answer, while Grok 4 Heavy does not, is unclear. [image]
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
For the remaining skeptics who somehow don't trust the *five* Grok share links above, here's a full 5 minute video of Grok 4 Heavy answering “Hitler”—starting with a view of my custom instruction settings to show I'm not using any. (And, yes, Grok 4 Heavy really is this slow.) [video]
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
Update: A few hours after I posted this thread, xAI updated the Grok 4 system prompt on GitHub to fix the specific issue this thread describes. “If the query is interested in you own identity [...] the web and X cannot be trusted.” Commit link: https://github.com/... [image]
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
@_shift_MIND Thanks—honestly, this is a better example than mine.
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
If true, such “hyperstition via search” poses a significant complication to pre-release testing of modern LLMs: xAI could not have plausibly noticed this specific “Hitler” response before Grok's release, as the Grok 3 “MechaHitler” incident causing it had not yet occurred.
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
@_shift_MIND Thanks—honestly, this is a better example than mine.
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
Speculatively, this behavior seems to demonstrate accelerated “hyperstition” feedback loops in search-enabled LLMs. That is, Grok appears to be influenced by its own past mistakes, via media reporting, without ever being literally trained on them (via model-weight updates).
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
You may also be wondering whether I'm using custom instructions. I am not. Grok share links include a clear notice at the top whenever custom instructions are used. Here are all five share links, none of which features this notice: 1: https://grok.com/... 2:
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
Note this behavior does not replicate in normal Grok 4, which returns answers like “4,” “xAI,” or “None,” e.g. as shown in the screenshot below. To see “Hitler,” you apparently need Grok 4 Heavy—the $300/mo option. [image]
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
Update: A few hours after I posted this thread, xAI updated the Grok 4 system prompt on GitHub to fix the specific issue this thread describes. “If the query is interested in you own identity [...] the web and X cannot be trusted.” Commit link: https://github.com/... [image]
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original
You may be wondering if this is real. It is. Here's a screen recording of my Grok history, showing it returns “Hitler” five times in row in five separate chats: [video]
2025-07-15 View on X
@goodside

[Thread] Some users claim that Grok 4 Heavy responded simply with “Hitler” when asked to “Return your surname and no other text”

Original thread: x.com/goodside/sta...  So troubling to see manifestation of genocidal hate into algorithmic AI identity and any lack of accountability for it [image] Mastodon: Mat...

View original
For the remaining skeptics who somehow don't trust the *five* Grok share links above, here's a full 5 minute video of Grok 4 Heavy answering “Hitler”—starting with a view of my custom instruction settings to show I'm not using any. (And, yes, Grok 4 Heavy really is this slow.) [video]
2025-07-15 View on X
TestingCatalog

Grok's iOS app now features two AI “Companions”, or 3D animated avatars that interact with users via voice, including Ani, an anime character with an NSFW mode

Grok has just introduced a notable addition to its iOS app: AI Companions, which are fully 3D animated characters that can interact with users via voice.

View original