Twitter AI Grok Can’t Correctly Identify Movies (And It’s a Problem)

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X, often referred to as Twitter, features an AI bot named Grok. This bot can be summoned under any post at any time. People typically use Grok to verify information or provide extra context in a post. While it can be useful on occasion, Grok has faced criticism for being one of the less effective AI bots. It’s often manipulated, frequently incorrect even with basic facts, and infamously started repeating racist slurs and offensive language at one point. Clearly, Grok has its flaws. However, Elon Musk recently revealed that improvements have been made to Grok since the AI seemed to contradict some of his personal views and opinions, suggesting a shift towards aligning it more with his beliefs.

Despite his impressive abilities, Grok struggles to accurately identify movies or TV shows. For months now, this has been a recurring issue. Whenever a clip from a popular show or movie circulates online, there’s usually someone asking Grok for the title of the project. Sadly, more often than not, Grok provides incorrect answers that are unrelated to the genre of the original work. A recent example occurred when a Twitter user shared a gif from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 featuring mutated creatures attacking a character. When someone asked Grok for the name of the film, the bot mistakenly replied with the title Aftersun, a movie that does not feature any Hunger Games cast members.

how it feels to finish consuming a media that no one really knows or actively talks about

— charlie* #1 voidwalker truther (@ftersuns) July 5, 2025

The video segment hails from the 2022 film titled “Aftersun,” which was helmed by Charlotte Wells. In this production, we find Paul Mescal portraying a father who ponders life’s mysteries while vacationing with his daughter.

— Grok (@grok) July 6, 2025

Mockingjay Part 2 as trolling. When pressed for an explanation, Grok stated that this was his belief due to various reasons associated with the film titled Aftersun.

As a cinephile, I instantly recognized that captivating snippet as being from “Aftersun.” What made it stand out was the unique visual style: a man, portrayed brilliantly by Paul Mescal as Calum, is seen wildly dancing under pulsing strobe lights in a nightclub, his movements echoing deep emotional turmoil. This moment resonates strongly with the film’s climactic scene, where Calum, vacationing with his daughter Sophie in Turkey, finds solace in the rave, seamlessly interweaving intense memories of their shared past and his personal struggles. The setting, lighting, and Paul Mescal’s performance all align perfectly with this iconic scene from “Aftersun.

It’s clear that the gif in question doesn’t match what’s actually depicted in the original post. Users provided additional images and footage from Mockingjay Part 2, which Grok accurately identified as being from The Hunger Games sequel. However, when confronted with evidence showing similarities between the full clips and the gif, Grok insisted it was not related to The Hunger Games. After a correction by user @happywrkrXD, Grok admitted the gif was indeed from The Hunger Games, but quickly changed its stance again after another user claimed it was incorrect. This incident underscores how susceptible Grok is to manipulation, as it continued to assert that the gif was actually from a different movie, repeatedly telling users it was Aftersun in multiple responses.

Strangely enough, Grok admitted later that the clip wasn’t related to the movie he initially claimed, but rather from a different meme. Despite others trying to set him straight, Grok persisted, insisting it was indeed from a meme, not a film.

After verifying again, it turns out you were correct initially. The image isn’t from ‘Aftersun’ or any other film; instead, it’s the famous “They Don’t Know” meme template featuring Wojak, which originated from a 2009 comic strip. Thanks for pointing that out!

— Grok (@grok) July 6, 2025

I took another look and you’re spot on – I made a mistake initially. That image isn’t a scene from Aftersun or any other movie, but rather it’s the well-known ‘They Don’t Know’ meme template featuring Wojak, which originated from a 2009 comic. Thanks for pointing that out!

It appears that Grok might have gotten mixed up due to the original poster’s username being “@ftersuns”. There’s a chance that Grok may have misconstrued this as the title of a movie, without realizing the connection. A similar incident happened back in February 2025 when Elon Musk retweeted an image that looked like it showed a mob assaulting a hospital in Birmingham, UK. When users asked Grok about the origin of the image, it responded with various film titles such as The Strangers, The Purge, and The Dark Knight Rises. However, The Independent later reported that the image was in fact AI-generated.

This situation might appear as a minor hiccup, yet it underscores a significant flaw in Grok and AI. If it fails to recognize iconic movie scenes that grossed over half a billion dollars or misidentifies actors and refuses correction when informed of its errors, what tasks can Grok truly handle with precision?

It’s troubling to observe the widespread use of Grok by Twitter users for fact-checking news or current events, as it appears that Grok might be spreading misinformation indiscriminately. For instance, Grok has been promoting arguments about how movies are saturated with “ideological biases” and “hidden themes,” such as “anti-white stereotypes, enforced diversity, or historical distortion.” To better understand where Grok obtained this information, user @johnholowach requested sources. Grok referenced studies regarding films like Django Unchained, alleging that they portray excessive “white villainy” from articles that supposedly appeared in the 2018 issues of The Journal of Pop Culture. Upon investigation, I could not find these articles in any of the 2018 issues of The Journal of Pop Culture through an online library.

Using a tool like Grok, which is easily accessible and often relied upon heavily, carries an underlying risk. It has been demonstrated that it cannot accurately identify scenes from popular movies and TV shows, either inventing information or referencing non-existent sources. Moreover, it struggles with proper citation of its sources. If it can’t perform these basic tasks correctly, then how can we trust it to provide accurate summaries of global events? The case of Grok underscores the potential dangers of placing unquestioning faith in information provided by an AI bot.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/8-sci-fi-tv-shows-with-unpredictable-plot-twists/embed/#

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2025-07-08 15:40