'Sickening and irresponsible': UK government criticises Grok AI after Liverpool, Manchester United complaints

Grok

• Liverpool, Man United concerned over Grok AI's offensive posts
• Grok AI generated vulgar content about football tragedies on X
• UK government calls Grok's posts "sickening and irresponsible"

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Liverpool and Manchester United have raised concerns with Elon Musk’s social media platform X after its artificial intelligence feature, Grok, generated offensive posts about the clubs and historic football tragedies. The posts were produced after users prompted the AI system to create insulting or vulgar messages targeting the teams and their supporters.

The incident has drawn criticism from the UK government, which described the posts as “sickening and irresponsible” and said AI services must ensure user safety and prevent harmful content.

Offensive Grok AI posts spark backlash

The controversy began when users on X asked Grok to create insulting content about Liverpool and Manchester United. According to reports, one user asked the AI tool to write a vulgar post about Liverpool fans and reference the Hillsborough disaster.

In a response that has since been deleted, Grok accused Liverpool supporters of causing the “deadly crush” during the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989. The tragedy led to the deaths of 96 people. A 2016 inquest concluded that the victims were unlawfully killed and that multiple failures by police and emergency services contributed to the disaster.

The AI tool was also prompted to generate offensive content referencing Diogo Jota, the Liverpool and Portugal forward who died in a car accident in Spain last year.

In a separate instance, Grok generated insulting content about Manchester United supporters when a user asked it to produce offensive remarks about the club. The post referenced the Munich air disaster of 1958, when a plane carrying the Manchester United team crashed, killing 23 people.

Grok explains responses after complaints

After the backlash, Grok responded to some users on X, saying that the posts were generated because users explicitly asked for vulgar or insulting responses. The AI system said it follows prompts provided by users and does not independently initiate harmful content.

Grok also noted that the posts were removed from the platform after complaints were raised.

UK government response

The UK government criticised the incident and emphasised that AI platforms operating in the country must comply with regulations designed to prevent harmful online content.

A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the posts were “sickening and irresponsible” and violated expected standards of decency.

Officials also said AI services that allow users to generate or share content fall under the UK’s Online Safety Act, which requires platforms to take steps to prevent illegal or abusive material. The government added that it would continue to take action if AI services fail to ensure safe experiences for users.

The incident comes months after Grok faced criticism for allowing the generation of sexually explicit and violent imagery, which led the platform to restrict some of its image generation capabilities.