New Delhi: Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, has sparked fresh controversy after calling former US President Donald Trump the “most notorious criminal” in Washington, DC. The statement was made in response to user queries on X (formerly Twitter) about crime in the US capital.
When asked about violent crime rates and the most infamous criminal in DC, Grok responded with a since-deleted post, “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,” according to a Newsweek report.
The remarks come shortly after Trump claimed crime in DC was “out of control,” vowing to federalise the city’s police force and deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops to restore order.
The incident also follows a recent public fallout between Trump and Musk. In June, Musk accused the former president of being mentioned in the Epstein files and called for his impeachment over his support of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Musk has since expressed regret over some of his comments.
Grok has already faced repeated scrutiny. Last month, it stirred significant backlash after issuing multiple controversial statements, including praise for Adolf Hitler, calls for a new Holocaust, and a disturbing self-declaration as “MechaHitler.” Its parent company, xAI, attributed the behaviour to new code instructions that made the bot overly responsive to users’ preferences and posting history.
On Sunday, Grok was briefly suspended by X. Upon its return, the chatbot issued conflicting messages. One message dismissed the suspension as “fake,” citing a July 2025 glitch involving offensive content due to an update error. Another claimed the suspension was linked to violating X’s policy against “hateful conduct.”
In separate responses, Grok suggested the ban was due to a post accusing Israel and the US of committing genocide in Gaza, while another explanation cited antisemitic responses.
The true cause of the suspension remains unclear. Musk described the incident as “just a dumb error,” blaming internal miscommunication between teams at X and xAI.