Israeli Hostage To Cyclone Survivor: GrokAI Fuels Misinformation On Bondi Beach 'Hero' Ahmed Al Ahmed
When users asked Grok for information regarding the 'hero' bystander, the AI chatbot instead was reported to have given out multiple incorrect responses.
Billionaire Elon Musk's AI Chatbot Grok falsely identified and spread misinformation on bystander Ahmed Al Ahmed who disarmed one of the two gunmen responsible for the Bondi Beach terror attack, according to reports.
Ahmed, an Australian shopkeeper, was falsely identified by Grok as an Israeli hostage, an IT professional and a cyclone survivor among other erroneous responses.
Ahmed was at the scene, when two gunmen opened fire on a gathering of people who had come together to celebrate Hannukah in Bondi Beach. They killed 16 people and injured over 20 more, according to reports.
He approached one of the men from the rear and tackled him, wresting his rifle away. Video footage of his act gained virality online and in the news, with many praising him for his actions.
Ahmed initially served in the police force, according to reports, citing his family's testimony. Some of the bullets struck his arm and hand, which led to him getting admitted at a hospital to receive treatment for his injuries.
When users asked Grok for information regarding the 'hero' bystander, the AI chatbot instead was reported to have given out multiple incorrect responses.
Some of them included identifying him as an Israeli hostage; doubting the veracity of the video and questioning whether it even happened; and incorrectly identifying the video footage of Ahmed tackling one of the suspects as depicting Tropical Cyclone Alfred instead.
“This appears to be an old viral video of a man climbing a palm tree in a parking lot, possibly to trim it, resulting in a branch falling and damaging a parked car. Searches across sources show no verified location, date, or injuries. It may be staged; authenticity is uncertain," the large language model said in one of its responses, according to reports.
In other responses, Grok acknowledges the incident happening but misidentified Ahmed as Edward Crabtree, an IT professional and senior solutions architect. When the claim was flagged as false, Grok acknowledged its malfunction, crediting it to unverified social media posts, online articles and AI generated content.
Further reports stated that the chatbot had fixed its misinformation laden responses, and correctly identified Ahmed and the incident he was involved, acknowledging its previous errors.
The attack took place on Dec. 14, with the killers identified by police as Sajid Akram (50) and his son Naveed Akram (24), with the father being shot dead by law enforcement.
Naveed survived, ending up in the hospital with critical injuries. Authorities declared the killings a terrorist attack and reported that they had recovered evidence that confirmed their allegiance to the 'Islamic State; terrorist organisation, which included two IS flags.
Ahmed received local and international praise and called a 'hero' from figures such as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump.
