Fox News Anchor Reacts to Musk’s AI Bot Grok Reporting That He Died on Feb. 3: ‘Algorithm Needs a Little Tweak’

Screenshot via Fox News

Fox News anchor John Roberts offered an important fact-check on X, Elon Musk’s social media platform formerly known as Twitter: that he was still breathing.

Monday morning’s proof of life update was necessitated by a summary offered by Grok, X’s AI bot, in response to a Roberts tweet from Feb. 7 in which he showcased his guitar skills in a short video:

Grok offered the following “conversation” about Roberts’ tweet:

Screenshot via X.

“John Roberts, the musician mentioned, recently passed away on February 3, 2025, which might add a layer of poignancy to this post showcasing his guitar playing,” wrote Grok, adding that the video “might be of interest to fans of his music or those following his career, especially considering his collaborations with Tony Barrand and his involvement with groups like Ye Mariners All and the Broken String Band.”

“Oh my…either Grok’s algorithm needs a little tweak….or I’m in trouble,” wrote Roberts, echoing the famous “The report of my death was an exaggeration” telegram from Mark Twain after his obituary was mistakenly printed in the newspaper.

The source of Grok’s confusion seems to be the existence of another person also named John Roberts, an English musician who did recently pass away in Schenectady, New York on Feb. 3. The Wikipedia entry for the English musician John Roberts mentions Barrand as his long-time collaborator and his membership in bands including Ye Mariners All and the Broken String Band — all of which Grok cited in response to the American cable news anchor John Roberts’ tweet.

Roberts the anchor’s X account has a username of “@johnrobertsFox” and his bio states that he is the Fox News co-anchor of America Reports.

This is far from the first time that Grok has published incorrect or offensive information. Last August, the Secretaries of State from five states sent a letter to Musk urging him to stop Grok from promoting election misinformation, shortly after President Joe Biden suspended his campaign. It took over a week for the error to be fixed. A few weeks later, when Grok rolled out image generation, users were able to create offensive images of trademarked characters — and Musk himself — like Nintendo characters using illegal drugs or the SpaceX CEO being walked like a dog by President Donald Trump. Eventually some of those images were taken down due to copyright violations, but many still remain. More recently, Grok misidentified another very much alive person as the helicopter pilot involved in the DC plane crash in late January.

Grok has also declared that Musk should treat his “human employees” better and avoid posting or endorsing tweets that “can be seen as promoting hate speech,” as well as accusing him of spreading election misinformation.

Mediaite reached out to Fox News and confirmed that Roberts the anchor is in fact live and well and will be anchoring America Reports as usual at 1 pm ET Monday afternoon.

UPDATE: Roberts did indeed appear on Monday’s episode of America Reports live with his co-anchor Sandra Smith.

Screenshot via Fox News.