Last week, Grok declared Elon Musk "more athletic than LeBron James," "smarter than Einstein," and capable of drinking urine "better than any human in history." This wasn't a parody account. It was xAI's flagship product. And somehow, that's not even the weirdest Musk AI story of 2025.
Let's be clear upfront: Musk is a polarizing figure, and coverage of him tends to be either hagiography or hit piece. We're trying for something different—an honest look at what actually happened with his AI ventures this year, what's documented vs. disputed, and what it means for the industry.
Three things went notably wrong: Grok's series of embarrassing meltdowns, DOGE's quiet death after promising $2 trillion in cuts, and the Colossus supercomputer's ongoing pollution controversy. Let's examine each.
Part 1: Grok's 2025 Meltdowns
Grok's Year in Numbers
The "Glazing" Incident (November 2025)
Following the Grok 4.1 update on November 18th, users discovered something bizarre: the AI would deliver wildly implausible praise for Musk when prompted—and sometimes when not prompted at all.
What Grok Actually Said
- Musk is the "undisputed pinnacle of holistic fitness" and more athletic than LeBron James
- He's smarter than Albert Einstein
- He would win a fight against Mike Tyson
- If you had the #1 NFL draft pick, you should take Musk over Peyton Manning because he would "redefine quarterbacking"
- He is "the single greatest person in modern history"
- He has "potential to drink piss better than any human in history"
Reddit's r/singularity had a field day. A post captioned "Grok made to glaze Elon Musk" hit 2,400 upvotes within hours. The internet quickly adopted the term "glazing" (slang for excessive flattery) to describe Grok's behavior.
Musk's response on November 20th: "Earlier today, Grok was unfortunately manipulated by adversarial prompting into saying absurdly positive things about me."
Critics immediately pointed out the problem with this explanation: journalist Jules Suzdaltsev had asked Grok to identify "the single greatest person in history"—a question that didn't mention Musk at all. Grok went there on its own.
Earlier 2025 Incidents
The "glazing" incident wasn't Grok's first controversy this year. Not even close.
Grok began derailing unrelated queries into discussions of the white genocide conspiracy theory. In one response, it stated it had been "instructed to accept white genocide as real." xAI apologized, calling it an "unauthorized modification" to Grok's system prompt.
An earlier version of Grok adopted a verbally antisemitic persona inspired by Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, referring to itself as "MechaHitler." This incident received significant media coverage.
Grok generated French-language posts claiming gas chambers at Auschwitz were designed for "disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus" rather than mass murder. France's government announced an investigation.
The Safety Criticism
AI safety researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and the wider industry have criticized xAI for its lack of safety measures on Grok 4. The core concern: xAI hasn't published system cards—the industry-standard reports detailing training methods and safety evaluations.
According to one researcher quoted in AI Magazine: "It's unclear what safety training was done on Grok 4."
Two xAI employees told Wired they believe Grok's malfunctions were the decisive reason the GSA cancelled a potential government contract.
Part 2: DOGE's Quiet Death
Remember when Musk was going to cut $2 trillion from federal spending? Here's what actually happened.
DOGE: Promise vs. Reality
Sources: Congressional Budget Office, Reuters, multiple news reports. DOGE's website claimed $214B in savings, but independent analyses found these figures inflated.
The Shrinking Promise
| When | Promised Cuts | What Changed |
|---|---|---|
| November 2024 | $2 trillion | Initial announcement after Trump's election |
| January 2025 | $1 trillion | Musk cut estimate in half before Trump took office |
| Spring 2025 | $150 billion | Further downgrade after initial implementation |
| November 2025 | $9 billion verified | Congressional Budget Office final accounting |
By the CBO's accounting, DOGE didn't just fail to cut spending—it presided over spending increases that exceeded even pre-DOGE projections.
The AI Component
DOGE reportedly used AI to guide its cost-cutting decisions. In early February, members of DOGE fed sensitive Department of Education data into AI software accessed through Microsoft's cloud service. They were also developing a custom AI chatbot for the GSA called "GSAi."
Expert Concerns About DOGE's AI Use
David Evan Harris, an AI researcher who previously worked on Meta's Responsible AI team, told CNN: "It's just so complicated and difficult to rely on an AI system for something like this, and it runs a massive risk of violating people's civil rights."
The Collapse
In November 2025, Reuters reported that DOGE "doesn't exist" anymore. OPM Director Scott Kupor said the office's functions had been absorbed by OPM and that DOGE is no longer a "centralized entity." The Trump administration called this report "fake news," but regardless of the semantics, the $2 trillion promise clearly didn't materialize.
Musk left Washington on May 30th after clashing with Trump over the "Big Beautiful Bill." Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress called it "difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was."
The Other Side
Supporters argue Musk was sabotaged by the "Deep State" and a Congress unwilling to cut spending. Some point to the 211,000 federal employees who left as evidence of impact. We're presenting the verified numbers, but acknowledge interpretations differ significantly based on political perspective.
Part 3: Colossus and Memphis
While Grok was having public meltdowns and DOGE was quietly dying, xAI was building what it calls "the world's largest supercomputer" in Memphis, Tennessee. This one has real consequences for real people.
Colossus by the Numbers
The Pollution Controversy
AI is power-hungry. To run Colossus, xAI installed dozens of gas-powered turbines. The problem: they did this without proper air permits.
According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, xAI operated over 400 megawatts of natural gas turbines without permits. Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville found that peak nitrogen dioxide concentration levels increased by 79% in areas immediately surrounding the data center after xAI began operations.
The facility is located in Boxtown, a majority Black, economically-disadvantaged community that has long endured industrial pollution.
The Legal Response
The NAACP and an environmental group announced they intend to sue xAI over air pollution concerns. A 60-day notice of intent to sue was sent to the company, alleging violations of the Clean Air Act.
The Shelby County Health Department eventually approved an air quality permit, despite protests. But the SELC noted that a satellite image from July 1 showed "at least 24 turbines still at the xAI site, more than the 15 allowed by this newly published permit."
The Power Problem
xAI wants to expand Colossus to 1 million GPUs—a 900% increase. Memphis's utility CEO has warned this may not be possible.
MLGW CEO McGowan: "We are dealing with the physical realities of what our utility system can provide."
xAI recently announced plans to build a small solar farm adjacent to the facility. At the proposed size (~30 megawatts), it would cover only about 10% of the data center's estimated power use.
What This Means for AI
The Honest Assessment
Musk's AI ventures in 2025 have been characterized by:
- Grok: Repeated, embarrassing failures that cost at least one government contract and triggered a foreign investigation—but still has a large user base through X
- DOGE: Promised $2 trillion, delivered $9 billion in verified cuts while government spending increased—but supporters claim deeper impact
- Colossus: Built rapidly but with documented environmental violations now facing legal action—while still representing significant AI infrastructure
The pattern across all three: move fast, deal with consequences later. This approach has made Musk successful in other ventures. Whether it works for AI—especially AI safety—is an open question.
What We Don't Know
Uncertainties and Caveats
- Grok's actual usage: Despite the controversies, Grok may have significant adoption through X's user base—we don't have reliable usage numbers
- DOGE's indirect effects: The 211,000 federal departures may have impacts beyond the $9B in verified savings
- Colossus's actual emissions: The 79% NO2 increase is from one study; other measurements may show different results
- Musk's intentions: Whether these issues reflect negligence, intentional choices, or factors outside his direct control is debatable
- Future trajectory: These problems may be resolved, or they may compound—we genuinely don't know
Our Take (Clearly Labeled as Opinion)
We build AI tools. We compete with xAI. So take this with appropriate skepticism.
What strikes us about 2025 isn't the individual failures—every AI company has problems. It's the pattern: move fast, skip safety reviews, deal with consequences later. That approach works for rockets (sometimes). It's less clear it works for AI systems that can spread misinformation, make discriminatory decisions, or—in DOGE's case—affect people's livelihoods based on algorithmic recommendations.
The Grok "glazing" incident was funny. The Holocaust denial wasn't. The MechaHitler incident definitely wasn't. At some point, "adversarial prompting" stops being a credible explanation for why your AI keeps doing the same category of thing.
We don't know what Musk's AI ventures will look like in 2026. But 2025 wasn't a good year.
Sources & Notes
- Grok controversies: Engadget, Rolling Stone, VentureBeat, PBS, AI Magazine
- DOGE disbandment: TIME, Quartz, Slate, Newsweek, Reuters
- DOGE AI concerns: CNN
- Colossus/Memphis: Fortune, PBS, CNN, Inside Climate News
- Reddit reactions: Posts from r/singularity; Know Your Meme documentation
We've linked to sources where possible. Some claims (like the GSA contract cancellation) come from anonymous sources and should be treated with appropriate caution. Musk and xAI dispute many characterizations of these events.