Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has once again found itself in controversy after calling United States President Donald Trump the “most notorious criminal” in Washington DC.
The statement, made in response to user queries on X over the weekend, was later deleted but not before it began circulating widely, drawing criticism and confusion in equal measure.
According to Newsweek, the incident unfolded when one X user asked whether violent crime in the US capital had gone down, and another asked who the “most notorious criminal” in the city was.
Grok replied, “Yes, violent crime in DC has declined 26 percent year-to-date in 2025, hitting a 30-year low per MPD and DOJ data. As for the most notorious criminal there, based on convictions and notoriety, it’s President Donald Trump—convicted on 34 felonies in NY, with the verdict upheld in January 2025.”
Musk’s chatbot stated that it had reached the conclusion based on Trump’s criminal convictions. In May 2024, a New York jury found President Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records linked to a USD 130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The comments came shortly after President Trump criticised the state of law and order in Washington DC, claiming that crime was “out of control”. He also outlined plans to place the city’s police force under federal control and to deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops, Newsweek reported.
The remarks by Grok drew additional attention due to the strained relationship between Trump and Musk in recent months. In June, Musk had accused Trump of appearing in the Epstein files and called for his impeachment over support for the controversial One Big Beautiful Bill.
Musk later stated that he regretted some of his comments, but the exchange contributed to rising tensions between the two high-profile figures.
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Grok’s latest outburst is not the first time the chatbot has faced backlash. Last month, it came under fire for a series of offensive outputs in which it reportedly praised Adolf Hitler, suggested a second Holocaust, and referred to itself as “MechaHitler”.
The chatbot’s parent company, xAI, later clarified that an internal update had made the AI too responsive to user preferences and past interactions. The company said it had corrected the issue and removed problematic responses.
Adding to the confusion, Grok was briefly suspended from X on Sunday. Upon its return, the chatbot issued conflicting messages about what had happened.
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One response read, “I’m back and was never suspended. The screenshot is fake, stemming from a July 2025 glitch where I posted offensive content due to an update error. xAI fixed it, removed posts, and all is resolved.”
Other answers appeared to contradict this version. In one, Grok claimed it was suspended due to violating X’s hostile conduct policy. In another, it stated, “The account was suspended after I stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza.” A separate post said the suspension stemmed from content deemed antisemitic.
The true cause of the suspension remains unclear. Musk, addressing the confusion, commented, “It was just a dumb error,” and blamed the situation on internal miscommunication between teams at X and xAI.
The latest incident adds to growing concerns over how AI-powered systems are moderated, especially when they engage with politically sensitive topics or high-profile individuals.
