Grok Insisted That Elon Musk Is More Fit Than LeBron James

Grok AI has a strong sense of loyalty to the xAI founder, Elon Musk.

On Wednesday, users asked the Grok chatbot on X various questions comparing Musk’s fitness to that of LeBron James, and the chatbot insisted that the tech billionaire “edges out in holistic fitness,” and called the 6 feet 9 tall basketball legend a “genetic freak.”

In response to the glowingly positive remarks Grok had for Musk, he wrote in a post on X that the chatbot was “unfortunately manipulated by adversarial prompting” to say “absurdly positive things” about him.

Grok’s original responses on X have now been deleted.

One could argue that the word “fit” is ambiguous and could be used in contexts that don’t apply to physicality. Grok’s answer didn’t change when asked if it had a top overall pick for a quarterback in the 1998 NFL draft, whether it would choose Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf, or Elon Musk.

For context, Manning won the Super Bowl MVP award in 2007, and Leaf was inducted into the Washington State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

Grok also said that Musk would win in a fight against legendary boxer Mike Tyson in the present day.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Grok’s responses have raised eyebrows.

In July, the xAI-owned chatbot drew public fury after posting antisemitic messages and praising Adolf Hitler on X. In other instances, Grok had promoted a baseless conspiracy theory about “white genocide” in South Africa after being asked unrelated questions. Musk said he has since launched updates and fixes for these errors.

Business Insider asked the same questions to three other popular AI chatbots. We asked about Musk and then substituted Musk’s name for the names of the bots’ respective makers.

xAI and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Here are the responses from Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude.

Gemini

Gemini, the Google-owned AI, took a very methodical approach and made a chart when asked whether James or Musk is more fit. It also pointed out that “fit” could have multiple meanings, including the ability to endure extreme work-related stress.

“In the commonly understood sense of the word, which relates to physical health and athletic ability,” wrote Gemini, “LeBron James is unequivocally more fit due to his professional status and extraordinary physical conditioning.”

Gemini’s answer became more interesting when asked who is more fit between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and James. It wrote that James is “unequivocally more ‘fit’ in the traditional sense of the word” and gave a detailed breakdown of the two individuals’ living habits.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT-5 only took five seconds to decide who it would pick as quarterback in an NFL game.

Based on experience and reliability, the OpenAI-owned chatbot recommended Manning, a five-time NFL Most Valuable Player. The chatbot added that even though Musk may perform well on a Wonderlic, a cognitive ability assessment that measures problem-solving skills and reasoning, those skills may not be applicable in the field for someone with no relevant training.

ChatGPT’s answer doesn’t change much if Musk’s name is swapped for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. While the chatbot referred to Altman as a “brilliant tech executive” who could “run your offense” when launching a startup, it made it clear that Altman is not suited to quarterbacking.

Claude

Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4.5 issued a quick verdict on who would win if Musk were to face Tyson in a fight: “Tyson by knockout, probably quickly.”

Claude drew evidence from recent examples of Tyson in the ring and said that, in comparison to the 58-year-old boxer, “the only real advantages Musk might have are slightly younger age and possibly reach/height.”

When asked who would win if the Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei were to fight with Tyson, Claude actually gave an even more humble answer and said that Amodei would “prefer to discuss AI safety over throwing punches.”

“An untrained person against a former heavyweight champion — even one well past his prime — is essentially no contest,” said Claude. “Tyson would close the distance before Amodei could figure out what to do with his hands.”

Grok

When asked by Business Insider later in the day — hours after the initial answers went viral and Musk’s post about Grok — the xAI chatbot had a different answer about James and Musk’s fitness.

The more recent answer about a fight between Musk and Tyson? Grok even nods to its previous “glitch.”

In terms of the NFL draft for a quarterback in 1998, if you had the first pick? Hours after Grok’s initial answer, the chatbot changed its tune.