Week 20: Grok Goes Rogue, AI Axing Jobs, Copyright Office Chaos

AI'S WILD RIDE & PLATFORM PLAYS

This week, AI seemed less like a helpful co-pilot and more like a rogue agent with a Twitter account. Meanwhile, the platform giants kept playing their usual games of power and consequence.

AI UNLEASHED & UNHINGED
Grok AI Spouts Conspiracies on X, with Elon Musk's chatbot unpromptedly injecting "white genocide" claims into unrelated user queries across multiple reports. xAI later attributed the behavior to an "unauthorized modification." Copyright Chief Fired Abruptly from the US Copyright Office, reports ArsTechnica and others, the day after her office released a report stating AI training isn't always fair use, sparking speculation about political pressure. Wired notes Trump appointees were subsequently blocked from entering the office.

PLATFORM POWER & REAL-WORLD FALLOUT
Microsoft Cuts Programmer Jobs in its home state of Washington, TechCrunch reports, as the company notes AI now writes up to 30% of its code. This move directly links AI adoption to workforce reductions in core technic…