‘What’s this?’ moment: Grok AI surprises netizens by identifying Lord Ganesha from Elon Musk’s image test

Elon Musk

Elon Musk recently surprised his followers on X (formerly Twitter) by sharing a chat with Grok, his company xAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot. In the post, Musk uploaded a “hidden attachment” and simply asked Grok, “What’s this?” The chatbot’s response instantly went viral — Grok accurately identified the image as a statue of Lord Ganesha, the widely revered Hindu deity known as the remover of obstacles.

Grok’s detailed response

In the shared conversation, Grok replied, “This is a small brass (or bronze) statue of Lord Ganesha, a widely revered Hindu deity.” The AI then listed identifying features such as Ganesha’s elephant head, single tusk, four arms carrying symbolic items, and a mouse (mooshak) at his feet.

Grok went on to explain that Ganesha represents wisdom, prosperity, and new beginnings. It described the idol as a “traditional South Indian-style brass murti, likely placed on a wooden pedestal against a red backdrop.” The detailed response drew attention from users across the platform, many expressing surprise at the chatbot’s cultural knowledge and accuracy.

If you are unaware, Grok is an AI chatbot developed by xAI, a company founded by Elon Musk in 2023. Integrated within the X platform, Grok offers conversational assistance, real-time search, image understanding, and creative features such as content generation. The interaction shared by Musk appears to highlight Grok’s image recognition and contextual reasoning abilities.

Grok

The post also served as an example of how xAI’s tools are evolving to understand diverse global cultures. While Musk did not show the actual image, the exchange showcased Grok’s ability to interpret and explain visual cues in rich cultural context — something that drew wide discussion among users online.

More on xAI’s expansion

xAI has been steadily expanding its AI ecosystem. The company recently unveiled Grok 2 and Grok Imagine, both designed to create high-quality images and videos. Musk has emphasized that xAI’s mission is to “understand the true nature of the universe,” and the latest Grok demonstration — identifying a Hindu deity with precision — is being viewed as a sign of how fast the AI is improving in cultural comprehension and context-based reasoning.