Grok falsely identifies hero of Bondi Beach shooting

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, popularized on his social media platform X, appears to have been continuously spreading misinformation about a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia on Sunday.

Popular online publication Gizmodo pointed to several posts where Grok misidentified the bystander, 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed—who disarmed one of the gunmen—and challenged the authenticity of videos and photos capturing al Ahmed’s actions.

In one post, Grok incorrectly identified a man in a photo as an Israeli hostage. In another case, it referenced unrelated information regarding the Israeli army’s treatment of Palestinians. Additionally, it mistakenly claimed that a “43-year-old IT professional and senior solutions architect” named Edward Crabtree was the individual who disarmed a gunman.

However, Grok appears to be addressing some of its errors. At least one post, which had inaccurately claimed that a video of the shooting actually depicted Cyclone Alfred, has been corrected following a reevaluation.

The chatbot later confirmed al Ahmed’s identity, explaining that the “misunderstanding arises from viral posts that mistakenly identified him as Edward Crabtree, possibly due to a reporting error or a joke referencing a fictional character.”

Meanwhile, police said on Monday that the two alleged gunmen who killed 15 people at a Jewish celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach were a father and son, as Australia began mourning the victims of its worst gun violence in almost 30 years.

The father, a 50-year-old, was killed at the scene, bringing the death toll to 16, while his 24-year-old son remains in critical condition in the hospital, police said at a press conference on Monday. The father and son were identified as Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, respectively, by state broadcaster ABC and other local media outlets.

Officials have described Sunday’s shooting as a targeted antisemitic attack.

Forty people remain in the hospital following the attack, including two police officers who are in serious but stable condition, police said. The victims were aged between 10 and 87.

Witnesses said the attack at the famed Bondi Beach, which was packed on a hot evening, lasted about 10 minutes, sending hundreds of people scattering along the sand and into nearby streets.

Police said around 1,000 people had attended the targeted Hanukkah event, which was held in a small park off Bondi Beach.