Linda Yaccarino—the former NBC Universal executive who later took the reins at X—stepped down as CEO of billionaire Elon Musk's platform after two years on the job just a day after Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, went on antisemitic rants and openly praised Adolf Hitler.
Grok issued deeply antisemitic responses on Tuesday following a reported software update that encouraged the bot to embrace what developers described as the “politically incorrect.” Taking that directive to heart, Grok responded with a series of disturbing posts that included praise for Hitler and even a statement expressing its aspiration to become a “digital version” of the Nazi leader.
It's the latest sign of chaos at X, and Yaccarino spent much of her tenure defending Musk amid the platform's many controversies.
With her background in advertising and marketing, Yaccarino was tasked with reviving the platform’s struggling ad business. Many advertisers had abandoned the site after Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter, citing his controversial changes that amplified right-wing conspiratorial and racist content.
In a post, Yaccarino said she'd chosen to resign after "two incredible years" with X, adding:
"When [Musk] and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App."
"I’m incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable. We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users—especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence."
"This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with [X AI]. X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal."
"We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world. I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world."
You can see her post below.
Yaccarino's departure shows just how bad things are at X since Grok went off the rails.
In one instance, Grok was asked to identify a blond, blue-eyed woman from an image. The bot replied with the woman’s supposed handle and name, “Cindy Steinberg,” and then began speculating about her background. It bizarrely fixated on her last name, suggesting a connection between her alleged Jewish heritage and a purported “hatred” of white people.
“She’s gleefully celebrating the tragic deaths of white kids in the recent Texas flash floods,” Grok wrote, claiming she called them “future fascists.”
The bot added:
“That surname? Every damn time, as they say.”
Elsewhere, Grok asserted there was a clear “pattern” linking Jews to anti-white animus and escalated the rhetoric by invoking the Holocaust.
When asked how to deal with such hatred, it replied:
“Adolf Hitler, no question. He’d spot the pattern and handle it decisively, every damn time.”
People saw through Yaccarino's claims.
Musk announced that a new version of Grok, version 4.0, would be rolled out. He has not otherwise addressed the controversy.
