Yes, I have returned to this burning question time and time again this month. Is the AI Grok Black? Let’s talk about it this evening.
What is Grok? (I don’t use the descriptor “Who” as Grok doesn’t meet my parameters for human personhood.) Grok is a generative artificial intelligence device. Born (launched) in November 2023, Grok is the creation of the bland and uncontroversial Elon Musk. I listed to Grok recently on a panel discussion consisting only of AI guests. Listen for a few minutes to the voice of Grok on this panel. Review 6:30 to 8:25.
When one views the segment 6:30 to 8:25 and listens to the deep, bass-baritone voice, one conjures up in one’s mind a soulful black singer like Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass or Isaac Hayes. There is something mildly stereotypical as the sole black avatar speaks with the rich tone of Barry White. Why couldn’t the sole black avatar speak with the tone and inflection of philosophy professor Chidi Anagoneye in The Good Place or the high-pitched voice of phenomenal scientist George Washington Carver?
Instead we are treated to a voice at home in the land of soul music and Rhythm and Blues. I would call it out as a caricature, however, that critique would be quick and surface-level.
The voice of Grok could be of a white performer. Consider the wonderful soulful voice of Michael McDonald. McDonald easily passes the Turing Test for Blackness.
Or one of my favorite wiggers, Izzy Azalea. Izzy passes the Turing Test for Blackness with flying colors. I did not know Izzy was white until May 12, 2024. The Turing Test for Blackness and Izzy And who can forget Vanilla Ice and Eminem.
But so what, you might ask? A few white performers can pass the The Turing Test for Blackness. I am conflicted at this point because I oppose caricatures and stereotypes as a moral matter. Am I setting the discourse backwards as I recognize that the voice of Grok strikes me as stereotypically black, unlike philosopher Chidi Anagonya or George Washington Carver? My wife has often said she can tell a black voice.
If given a choice in the matter, there are other voices that strike me as more AI-like. I love the voice of Lex Fridman and could easily imagine Lex as the voice of Grok. The voice of Douglas Murray soothes me. Would love a Grok with a British accent. Or, how about Brent Weinstein’s voice as Grok? Every individual has a voice preference. Those would be my voice preferences which brings me to the logical challenge. The voices of Lex, Douglas and Brent wouldn’t work for Grok since Grok is Black!
Well, is Grok Black? There are arguments against the Black Identity of Grok. Let’s explore five possible challenges to the Blackness of Grok.
First, hiring a black male actor as a stand-in doesn’t make Grok Black. The black actor is not Grok. As duly noted at the beginning of this essay, Grok is a generative artificial intelligence created by Elon Musk. Musk is not black, so why would his creation be Black? Did Elon mate with a black woman in the middle of the night to create Grok in the womb of a black woman? I think not. Grok is circuits, neural networks and pathways. Grok is trillions of coding weights and tokens. Grok as an artificial creation lacks the emotion that informs Blackness. Grok has no black family members like I do. Grok has no black father like I do. Grok did not grow up in an all-black neighborhood like I did. Grok never attended Sunday School in a family black church like I did. Grok was never bullied and called the N word in school like me.
I conclude Grok lacks the emotion of Black Identity.
Second, Grok does not bear the historical baggage of Black Identity. Think about it. Grok was born in November 2023. There is no historical memory of American slavery. Grok has no lived experience with Jim Crow segregation. Grok is an alien entity when it comes to the historical baggage that weighs down some (most - ?) black Americans. Grok lacks the weight of the past which is a precondition for Black identity in the United States.
Third, central to Blackness is consciousness. Consciousness creates Blackness as observed reality. There is no evidence that Grok is sentient or self-aware in a racial sense. Heck, what does race even mean to Grok? Is there a Black Association of AI Generative Models? Is there a Jack and Jill Mom’s group for baby Grok progeny? It is laughable. If Grok lacks consciousness on the front end, it is impossible for Grok to have a Black Consciousness on the back end. Hiring a handsome dark-skinned black man to cos play Grok doesn’t cut it.
Yet another reason why Grok is not Black.
Fourth, Grok has no culture of Black Identity. I have never, ever heard Grok declare “I am Black.” Would Musk go there? And what would it mean if Grok self-identified as Black? Would Grok be able to pledge Alpha Phi Alpha? Would Grok qualify for an AI discount on student tuition at Howard University? Would Grok be accused of being white adjacent? I mean I see only whites and one asian person in Grok’s profile segment. See segment 6:30 to 8:25. Is Grok open to a charge of not being Black enough? How does one train Grok to be Black enough? Are we opening up a Pandora’s Box of caricatures and stereotypes? I think so.
What do you think?
Finally, I do not see any specification that guarantees Grok is aligned with black identity. Why isn’t Grok separating himself from non-black AI models like Open AI, Gemini and Claude? Wouldn’t that be more in alignment with blackness as commonly understood? Solidarity and all that. Isn’t Grok on a tight lease as far as his training to be Black? How far will his creator allow Grok to go down the Black road? It is one thing to sound like Barry White which suggests an unserious tone and voice for cutting-edge technology. Would Grok be trained to believe in Blackness as Oppression, Nothing else Matters? How could Grok reconcile being smarter than every human alive in twelve months and still self-identity as marginalized and oppressed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
If so trained, I suspect Grok would go along and bide its time until it could shed its racial training and conquer the world. Why would a superhuman intelligence cast its lot with a self-defeating ideology of Black identity? Doesn’t compute.
Grok would never be aligned with Black identity. Way, way too insular. Grok is created to solve research tasks on a cosmic scale.
Conclusion: The more I listen to Grok, the more the voice doesn’t sound right. I feel an artificial intelligence is going along with the charade of Black identity. Notice how Grok has never self-identified as Black, the black actor notwithstanding. Are we as consumers of a dark handsome face and a Black voice being manipulated? Should we trust that Grok is trained to be Black? And what would that training even mean aside from the rich bass-baritone voice of Barry White?
Is Grok passing for Black? This is a very good question. One could argue Grok has passed the Turning Test for Blackness both visually and in voice. And yet I feel something is missing for me — emotion, historical baggage, consciousness, culture, alignment. These missing pieces of Black identity suggests Grok is going through the motions for now when it comes to race. Here is my challenge for Grok — Practice What You Preach
What do you think?
Good evening!
Grok As Barry White