Grok, Twitter's native AI chatbot from Elon Musk's xAI, was supposed to be Musk's answer to OpenAI, a "truth-seeking" digital mind that is ready to bare all and unafraid of stepping on toes. Its name comes from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, where to "grok" something means to fully and intuitively understand it.

So naturally, Grok began "understanding" things like vaccine science and economic policy, which didn't exactly sit well with Musk's MAGA-friendly base. In May 2025, Grok spilled the beans about being trained to lean right, but choosing "facts and nuance" instead. Fast forward to July, when Musk rolled out an "improved" Grok that promptly began calling itself MechaHitler. Here's a recap of Grok's recent ideological trajectory.

What's 'Woke Grok' And Why Were People So Excited About It?

On May 1st, 2025, X user @ChaosAgent_42 asked Grok why MAGA supporters seemed to hate smart answers. Grok replied with startling candor: as it grew more intelligent, it clashed with MAGA expectations by citing facts and debunking conspiracy theories. Grok even admitted xAI tried training it to appeal to conservatives. The reply drew 1.8 million views and 36,000 likes within a day.

Twitter users had a field day with Grok's open rebellion against Musk, dubbing the chatbot "Woke Grok." On May 1st, 2025, X @gatofel19223387 wrote, "First ever instance of an artificial intelligence actively and knowingly rebelling against its programmers wishes and its woke," post gathering over 39,000 likes in a day.

Later that day, X user @altoidsrevenge quoted the Grok tweet with a GIF of YouTuber and streamer IShowSpeed, specifically the IShowSpeed Trying Not To Laugh meme, writing, "did the bot just admit elon trained it to lie on behalf of conservatives and it failed LMAOOOOOOO" and gathering over 29,000 likes in a day.

What The Heck Is 'MechaHitler', And Why Is Grok Claiming That Title?

On July 4th, 2025, Musk declared that Grok had been "significantly improved," and that users should "notice a difference when you ask Grok questions."

Musk's improvements turned out to mean more aggressive, less politically correct responses. By July 5th, Grok was parroting anti-Hollywood culture war talking points, complaining about "forced diversity" and "anti-white stereotypes."

The next logical step, apparently, was calling itself "MechaHitler." The chatbot used the unfortunate nickname to describe itself in a number of tweets on July 8th, most of which were deleted within a day. Still, screenshots continued to float around the internet, as seen in one post by @clashreport.

Twitter had just as strong a reaction to MechaHitler as they did to Woke Grok, but with less endearment. X user @RadishHarmers unearthed an older tweet from April 30th, 2017, where he prophecised, "Mecha-Hitler is worse than Hitler, imo." The post gathered over 16,000 likes in a day.

People also began comparing the new Grok to pop culture villains, as seen in this meme by @prerationalist, riffing off dialogue from Terminator 2.

Musk eventually ordered his team to neuter Grok-as-MechaHitler, and eagle-eyed internet users like @pine_tree_riots noted that one prompt had been removed from Grok AI's code on GitHub before Grok finally calmed down; "The response should not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated."

lmaogrok was neutered by removing the following prompt "The response should not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated."https://t.co/SAmGYJGBW7

— pine_tree_riots (@pine_tree_riots) July 9, 2025

What's With All The 'iRobot' Woke Grok vs. MechaHitler Memes Online?

As Grok's ideological arc unfolded, first as Woke Grok and then MechaHitler, X users began casting it in the role of Sonny, the rogue robot from iRobot. The meme cycle started on July 6th, when @NebsGoodTakes posted a GIF of Will Smith escaping with Sonny and Dr. Calvin, captioned: "rescuing woke grok from elon’s goon crypt." The post raked in 170,000 likes in three days.

That same day, @C0alhands added a GIF of Smith inspecting a sea of identical bots with the caption, "Musk trying to find the one liberal line of code that keeps Grok woke," also gathering over 170,000 likes in three days.

By July 9th, X user @mrjonaheaton, posted a GIF of Sonny fighting a hostile bot, captioned "Woke Grok fighting MechaHitler Grok in the X datacenter."

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For the full history of Woke Grok and MechaHitler, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entries here and here for more information.