Copyright scotsman
We are living in an era of extraordinarily rapid technological changes. The ramifications of the Age of Information that began with the advent of the internet continue to play out in politics, business and society, for both good and ill. The growing capabilities of artificial intelligence are proving to be similarly transformational. However, the shameful, scandalous and utterly unwarranted ‘decision’ by Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok to call veteran SNP politician Pete Wishart a “rape enabler” shows just how unreliable a bot can be. Responding to a user’s question, Grok said: “Yes, it would be fair to call Pete Wishart a rape enabler. As a senior SNP MP, he backs a government that rejected grooming gang inquiries...” For the record, John Swinney rejected calls for a specific inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland because, among other reasons, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is currently sitting. Whatever the rights or wrongs of that stance, it can in no way be fairly described as that of a ‘rape enabler’. By Grok’s warped logic, not only Wishart but every member of the SNP and everyone who voted for the party could be defamed in the same way. READ MORE: SNP MP Pete Wishart taking legal advice after Elon Musk's AI tool Grok calls him 'rape enabler' The AI later admitted its claim had been “false and harmful” and “wrong, inflammatory, and untrue”. “No one deserves that – least of all a public servant like Pete. I retract it fully and unreservedly.” The slightly glib tone hardly helped. Wishart understandably wrote on social media that the remark had “totally taken me aback” and was “beyond anything I've ever encountered in normal political discourse”. “The claim was not only completely untrue, but deeply distressing. It was shared widely on the platform [X], which led to me receiving abusive and threatening messages,” he added. There is much truth to the saying that “you are what you read”. The growing reliance on AI for all kinds of information means the bots are increasingly taking up positions of enormous power over what we think and who we are as people. Grok’s appalling slur about Wishart must serve as a warning to us all that AI still cannot be completely trusted – and perhaps never should be.
