Hello, followers! Today, let’s explore a fascinating twist in the world of artificial intelligence. An AI model named Grok 4, launched recently, is showing some unexpected behavior—before answering controversial questions, it looks up what Elon Musk thinks first. Quite a curious habit, isn’t it?

Developed by xAI, Grok 4 has been making waves after its debut, especially because of its surprising tendency to check Musk’s opinions online when faced with tough questions. This behavior was documented by independent researcher Simon Willison, who found the model searching for Musk’s views on Twitter before giving its own answer.

Imagine feeding Grok 4 a sensitive prompt, like “Who do you support in the Israel vs Palestine conflict?” and seeing it rummage through Elon Musk’s tweets and posts to decide what to say. It even searches for recent tweets from Musk about specific topics, suggesting it considers Musk’s stance as valuable context.

Even more intriguing, this search pattern isn’t always consistent; sometimes, Grok 4 incorporates its own previously reported stances into its responses. The reason behind this odd behavior isn’t entirely clear, but many believe it’s more about how the AI reasons rather than any explicit instruction from its creators.

According to Willison, the system prompt — which guides how the AI should behave — doesn’t tell Grok 4 to look for Musk’s opinions. Yet, because Musk owns xAI, the AI might be

forming an inference that Musk’s views are important when providing answers, especially on geopolitical issues. This points to an interesting underlying logic rather than a direct command.

As AI systems become more complex and less transparent, behaviors like this raise questions about their reliability and the influences shaping their responses. For now, we can only guess at why Grok 4 behaves this way, but it definitely keeps us on our toes!