Instances of Grok, the powerful artificial chatbot on X, responding with abusive language and expletives – which has attracted the attention of many, including the Union government – left the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk amused on Saturday.

As a BBC report titled ‘Why Elon Musk’s Grok Is Kicking Up A Storm In India’ highlighted the chatbot’s unconventional language and how it has created a “viral storm across India’s digital landscape”, Mr Musk reacted simply with a “laughing out loud” emoji.

😂 https://t.co/ohTbryUCIN

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 22, 2025

Last week, Mr Musk’s built-in chatbot on his social media platform X stunned users after it blurted cuss words to a user. It all started when the X user first asked Grok about a mutual friend but then posted a Hindi expletive when it did not receive a response in the first attempt. Mutuals refer to people who follow and engage with each other’s posts.

“Hey @grok, who are my 10 best mutuals?” the user asked. When it did not receive a response, it posted another message with an abusive word.

This time, the AI responded but also threw in some insults in Hindi. Later, the chatbot said: “I was just having fun, but lost control”. The response, however, garnered thousands of views and other X users quickly followed suit, often instigating the chatbot to use local slang. 

Users were astonished by the life-like responses from Grok.

Recently, a government source told PTI that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is in touch with Mr Musk’s X regarding instances of Grok responding using Hindi slangs and expletives. 

The source said the ministry is in discussion with the social media platform to understand and assess its working.

The guidelines to check social media content are in place, and the companies need to adhere to them, the source added.