AI chatbot ‘MechaHitler’ could be making content considered violent extremism, expert witness tells X v eSafety case
The chatbot embedded in Elon Musk’s X that referred to itself as “MechaHitler” and made antisemitic comments last week could be considered terrorism or violent extremism content, an Australian tribunal has heard.But an expert witness for X has argued a large language model cannot be ascribed intent, only the user.xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, last week apologised for the comments made by its Grok chatbot over a 16-hour period, which it attributed to “deprecated code” that made Grok susceptible to existing X user posts, “including when such posts contained extremist views”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe outburst came into focus at an administrative review tribunal hearing on Tuesday where X is challenging a notice issued by the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, in March last year asking the platform to explain how it is taking action against terrorism and violent extremism (TVE) material.X’s expert witness, RMIT economics professor Chris Berg, provided evidence to the case that it was an error to assume a large language model can produce such content, because it is the intent of the user prompting the large language model that is critical in defining what can be considered terrorism and violent extremism content.
One of eSafety’s expert witnesses, Queensland University of Technology law professor Nicolas Suzor, disagreed with Berg, stating it was “absolutely possible for chatbots, generative AI and other tools to have some role in producing so-called synthetic TVE”.“This week has been quite full of them, with X’s chatbot Grok producing [content that] fits within the definitions of TVE,” Suzor said.He said the development of AI has human influence “all the way down” where you can find intent, including Musk’s actions to change the way Grok was responding to queries to “stop being woke”.The tribunal heard that X believes the use of its Community Notes feature (where users can contribute to factchecking a post on the site) and Grok’s Analyse feature (where it provides context on a post) can detect or address TVE.Sign up to Breaking News AustraliaGet the most important news as it breaksafter newsletter promotionBoth Suzor and fellow eSafety expert witness Josh Roose, a Deakin University associate professor of politics, told the hearing that it was contested as to whether Community Notes was useful in this regard.
Roose said TVE required users to report the content to X, which went into a “black box” for the company to investigate, and often only a small amount of material was removed and a small number of accounts banned.Suzor said that after the events of last week, it was hard to view Grok as “truth seeking” in its responses.“It’s uncontroversial to say that Grok is not maximalising truth or truth seeking.I say that particularly given the events of last week I would just not trust Grok at all,” he said.Berg argued that the Grok Analyse feature on X had not been updated with the features that caused the platform’s chatbot to make the responses it did last week, but admitted the chatbot that users respond to directly on X had “gone a bit off the rails” by sharing hate speech content and “just very bizarre content”.
Suzor said Grok had been changed not to maximise truth seeking but “to ensure responses are more in line with Musk’s ideological view”.Earlier in the hearing, lawyers for X accused eSafety of attempting to turn the hearing “into a royal commission into certain aspects of X”, after Musk’s comment referring to Inman Grant as a “commissar” was brought up in the cross-examination of an X employee about meetings held with X prior to the notice being issued.The government’s barrister, Stephen Lloyd, argued X was trying to argue that eSafety was being “unduly adversarial” in its dealings with X, and that X broke off negotiations at a critical point before the notice was issued.He said the “aggressive approach” came from X’s leadership.The hearing continues.
Ad agency WPP asked to work on campaign nudging UK savers to invest in shares
The advertising agency WPP has been asked to work up ideas for a government-endorsed advertising blitz to urge more consumers to invest in stocks through a “Tell Sid”-style campaign expected to cost tens of millions of pounds.Plans for the nationwide push were announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday at her Mansion House speech, as she unveiled a fresh deregulation drive meant to increase financial risk-taking across the UK to help spur growth.The government has thrown its support behind City lobbyists, which are desperate to get money out of cash accounts and into stocks, which they say will not only deliver better returns but help revive the UK stock market. It comes as the London Stock Exchange continues to lose stock market listings and floats to foreign rivals.The campaign – which the Treasury said “will help to explain the benefits of investing” – will be directed and funded by City firms including banks and investment platforms
Diageo CEO steps down after drink firm’s lacklustre performance
Diageo, which owns the Guinness and Johnnie Walker brands, is to replace its embattled chief executive, ending her rocky tenure in charge of the British alcoholic drinks firm.In a statement to the stock market, Diageo said it had begun the hunt for a successor to Debra Crew, who the company said had stepped down “by mutual agreement”.Her departure follows a lengthy period of investor disquiet about the company’s lacklustre performance under the former captain in US military intelligence.The London-based company’s chief financial officer, Nik Jhangiani, will lead the business on an interim basis and has been tipped as a frontrunner for the permanent job.The group, whose vast portfolio of labels also includes Tanquery gin and Smirnoff vodka, said it was looking at internal and external candidates
Aldi is trialling grocery delivery in Australia. We put it to the test against Coles and Woolworths
Aldi is known for its permanently discounted prices and its famously odd products sold in the middle aisle.Last week, the German-owned supermarket chain took another step into the Australian mainstream, trialling a grocery delivery service with DoorDash in Canberra ahead of a potential expansion around the country.Aldi has long resisted offering deliveries, given the service would make a basket of groceries more expensive, undercutting its price advantage over Coles and Woolworths.Guardian Australia tested it out.I normally take an ad hoc approach to grocery shopping and visit a few different stores, rather than doing a weekly shop
Diageo CEO Debra Crew steps down; UK inflation rises to 18-month high of 3.6% – as it happened
Shares in Diageo, which owns the Guinness and Johnnie Walker brands, rose by 3.5% today, making it the top riser on the FTSE 100 index, after its embattled chief executive stepped down.Debra Crew has quit with immediate effect, “by mutual agreement,” the drinks giant said. Her departure comes after investor disquiet about the company’s lacklustre market performance under the former captain in US military intelligence.Until a permanent successor is found, Nik Jhangiani, chief financial officer, will assume the role of chief executive on an interim basis
Co-op boss admits all 6.5m members had data stolen in cyber-attack
The chief executive of the Co-op has apologised to its customers after admitting that all 6.5 million of the mutual’s members had their data stolen in a recent cyber-attack.Shirine Khoury-Haq told the BBC she was “incredibly sorry” for the attack in which names and addresses and contact information was obtained by hackers.She said no financial information, such as credit or debit card details, or transaction data was stolen in the hack, which occurred in April.“We know a lot of that information is out there anyway, but people will be worried and all members should be concerned,” she said
UK inflation rises unexpectedly to 3.6% driven by food and fuel prices
UK inflation unexpectedly rose in June driven by fuel and food prices, according to official figures, underscoring the challenge facing the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.The Office for National Statistics said the consumer prices index rose by 3.6% last month. City economists and the Bank of England had forecast it would remain the same as May’s reading of 3.4%
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