The artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, developed by xAI, has offered a critical assessment of a social media post by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani concerning the Jewish holy day of Tisha B'Av. A user prompted Grok to "drop a roast" on Mamdani's tweet, which wished Jewish New Yorkers "a peaceful" and "meaningful" fast.
Grok responded by describing the tweet as "so generic it feels like it was generated by prompting an [Large Language Model] with ‘write a respectful message about Tisha B'Av without saying anything specific.’" The chatbot further commented on Mamdani's phrasing, noting that while mentioning "the history and resiliency of the Jewish people" was "solid," it lacked personality. Grok concluded its roast by saying, "May your fast be as meaningful as this tweet is memorable," adding "Roasted with love (and zero calories, fitting the theme)."
Mamdani's original post, shared on X (formerly Twitter), stated: "Wishing a peaceful Tisha B’Av to Jewish New Yorkers across the five boroughs. From sundown tonight until tomorrow, mourners will pause and reflect on the history and resiliency of the Jewish people. May all observing have a safe and meaningful fast."
Tisha B'Av is a traditional day of communal fasting, mourning, and repentance, commemorating tragedies in Jewish history. The observance typically involves a 25-hour fast and other prohibitions.
Mamdani has previously been a vocal critic of Israeli policies. Earlier in the week, he had stated his intention to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited New York City, but later retracted this, citing legal limitations on local law enforcement authority.