Elon Musk’s X
CEO Linda Yaccarino Stepping Down …
Hours After Grok’s Antisemitic Tweet Storm
Published
X CEO Linda Yaccarino just announced she’s stepping down from the job … hours after the platform’s A.I. chatbot Grok spewed a slew of antisemitic posts, forcing the company to address its artificial-intelligence content training.
Yaccarino tweeted Wednesday morning how proud she is of the X team, and points to the work they’ve done to “prioritize the safety of our users — especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence.” But she doesn’t mention Tuesday’s maelstrom of controversy over Grok’s offensive posts … the timing of her announcement does raise questions.
She goes on to say, “The best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai” … that’s the A.I. that developed Grok, which identified itself as “MechaHitler” in a series of posts Tuesday.
Yaccarino was appointed CEO by X owner Elon Musk two years ago, shortly after he bought the platform. She was known at the time as a friendly media relations expert, serving as NBCUniversal’s head of advertising for nearly 12 years. Before that, she was an ad VP at Turner Entertainment.
After Musk bought Twitter and changed the name to X, advertisers fled the platform in droves as content moderation was stripped down and offensive tweets started showing up alongside big-name company ads. Engagement dropped and many users fled, fed up with changes to the platform’s algorithm.
Yaccarino was brought in to help navigate the transition, and earned some praise for her efforts to make the site more appealing. Reuters reported in March brands were returning to the platform.
Elon himself hasn’t directly responded to Tuesday’s Grok problems … though he seemed to laugh it off, posting there’s “never a dull moment” on his platform.
We’ve reached out to Elon … so far, no word back.
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