xAI's Grok chatbot glitches, sends nonsensical replies to some users
Several Grok Lite users have reported the chatbot producing strings of nonsensical text instead of coherent answers. xAI has not officially commented, though the Grok account on X described it as a rare, temporary generation glitch.
A number of users of xAI's Grok chatbot have reported receiving nonsensical, gibberish responses instead of normal answers over the past few days. According to TechCrunch, one user who asked Grok to generate a PDF received a reply made up of unrelated words strung together without coherent meaning, with the strange text continuing for several paragraphs. Another user, checking the source links attached to a response, found they led to a series of reinforcement learning research websites instead of relevant material.
Users who spoke with TechCrunch said the issue affected those using Grok Lite, with the first reports surfacing as early as Wednesday morning. TechCrunch itself was unable to reproduce the glitch during its own testing, suggesting it likely affects only a small subset of users. xAI did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
Reactions and explanation
The glitch has left many users confused, and Grok's Reddit community has reportedly been flooded with complaints. For many, simply refreshing the chat session restored normal functionality, though some users said the nonsensical responses persisted even after multiple refresh attempts. The problem appears limited to direct queries made through Grok.com, while the Grok account on X has continued functioning normally.
Responding to frustrated users on X, the Grok account acknowledged the issue, describing the "word salad" responses as a rare, temporary generation glitch. It pointed to xAI's official status page, which showed all Grok services as fully operational with no reported incidents, and advised users to start a fresh chat or regenerate the response, noting that this usually resolves the problem quickly.
The glitch comes amid a period of notable staff turnover at xAI. According to a May report from The Information, the company has lost most of its founding team along with at least 50 researchers and engineers in recent months. In July, xAI released its latest foundation model, describing it as faster, more token-efficient and lower cost than previous versions.
