Microsoft Partners with Elon Musk’s xAI to Host Controversial Chatbot Grok on Azure
Microsoft has teamed up with Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, to host its chatbot Grok on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. This move was announced at Microsoft’s Build conference and aims to improve the reliability and transparency of Grok after recent backlash over the bot’s problematic and politically charged responses.
Grok, which sparked controversy for making unfounded political claims — notably regarding South Africa — is now running on Azure AI Foundry, a platform already hosting AI models from OpenAI, Meta, and others. xAI attributes the earlier issues to an “unauthorised modification” and has implemented reforms including public release of system prompts, stricter review processes, and 24/7 monitoring.
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Elon Musk emphasized the importance of AI models being “grounded in reality” and acknowledged that errors are inevitable but promised transparency when mistakes occur. His remarks were seen by some as a subtle critique of OpenAI, the company he co-founded but later left.
At the event, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in highlighting advances in AI, particularly Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant used by over 15 million developers. Altman called it “one of the biggest changes to programming” in recent times, describing AI tools as “virtual teammates.”
The integration of Grok into Azure aligns with Microsoft’s broader Foundry initiative to support a wide range of AI models for developers to create generative AI applications.
This announcement came amid reports that Microsoft is cutting about 6,000 jobs worldwide—roughly 3% of its workforce—part of a strategic shift toward AI-driven efficiency and streamlined management.
