'Always check...': Elon Musk reacts after Grok's medical suggestion beats doctor's advice

The post has since gone viral, drawing a wave of reactions—ranging from personal anecdotes and praise for AI tools, to scepticism

Elon Musk has weighed in on a viral post shared by X’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier, which recounted how Grok—the AI chatbot developed by Musk’s xAI—suggested a medical test that a doctor initially dismissed, only for the test to return a positive result. The incident has reignited debate online over the growing role of artificial intelligence in healthcare decision-making.

Bier, formerly known for founding apps such as TBH and Gas, recently joined X (formerly Twitter) as Head of Product. On Wednesday, he shared the experience on his X handle: “Current state of the medical establishment: Brought a friend to the ER for a high fever. Put their symptoms into Grok. Grok told me to ask for 4 tests. Doctor said 1 of them is unnecessary. I insisted we do them all. Test came back positive on the one he didn’t want to do.”

In response, Elon Musk replied simply: “Always check with @Grok.”

Always check with @Grok

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2025

The post has since gone viral, drawing a wave of reactions—ranging from personal anecdotes and praise for AI tools, to scepticism and warnings against over-reliance on machine learning in sensitive domains like healthcare.

One user shared a similar experience: “I checked my niece's symptoms with Grok a couple of weeks ago (weird swelling in her finger), and Grok noticed something weird about her nail that wasn’t super clear. I went to the hospital, and she had an infected nail bed!”

However, others challenged the post’s credibility and called for more transparency.

“What were their symptoms and what tests did the doctor order and what tests did they leave off? This is important to your story being remotely believable btw which is probably why you left it off,” a user commented.

Another sounded a note of caution: “Careful. It's a pattern-matching engine. It doesn't understand the rhyme or reason for those tests... it only knows what was fed into it for training data and what it can glean off the internet. That being said? YEAH. Why do you think they call it, ‘practicing,’ medicine?”

Others were more dismissive of AI’s growing prominence in diagnosis: “A good doctor with experience would not have needed AI at all. Sorry to say that to all you AI lovers,” another user wrote.

The incident has stirred wider conversations around the credibility, boundaries, and ethical implications of using AI tools like Grok in high-stakes scenarios. While some see such technology as a potential support system for both patients and physicians, critics warn that reliance on machine-generated suggestions—especially without understanding their underlying logic—can be risky.

Bier, who officially joined X at the end of July, introduced himself in a post that read: “Ladies and gentlemen, I've officially posted my way to the top: I'm joining X as Head of Product. X is the most important social network in the world. It's where internet culture originates and where the world's most influential people convene.”