Musk Vows To 'Fix' Grok For Disagreeing With Him

Corporate AI Overhauls and Controversies: From VMware Pricing to Musk's AI Chatbot

In this episode of Hashtag Trending, host Jim Love covers several trending topics in the tech world. Broadcom's executives address customer outrage over VMware's pricing changes, arguing that the cost increases are due to customers not using software bundles correctly. Meanwhile, Intel outsources its marketing operations to Accenture, leveraging AI to cut costs, potentially leading to significant layoffs by July 11th under new CEO Lib-Bu Tan. Elon Musk criticizes his AI chatbot Grok for its analysis on political violence, suggesting that it leans too much towards legacy media narratives. Musk vows to fix the chatbot, aiming to align it more closely with his own views. The episode highlights broader implications for enterprise costs, the potential of AI in marketing, and the growing conversation around AI's role in shaping political narratives.

00:00 Introduction and Headlines
00:25 VMware's Controversial Pricing Changes
03:46 Intel's AI-Powered Marketing Overhaul
07:32 Elon Musk vs. His Own AI Chatbot
10:12 Conclusion and Call to Action

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
A VMware executive responds tocustomer price outrage by telling
them you're using it wrong.
Intel outsources marketing to Accentureleveraging AI, and Musk calls his own
AI chatbot to woke and vows to fix it.
Welcome to Hashtag Trending.
I'm your host, Jim Love.

(00:22):
Let's get into it.
Broadcom executives defended VMware'scontroversial pricing changes by arguing
that customers who were complainingabout cost increases simply aren't
using the software bundles correctly.
the response, which to many seemsa little tone deaf comes at a time
when organizations are grappling withunexpected costs across both traditional

(00:46):
software and public cloud services.
Joe Baguley, Broadcom's CTO forEMEA defends the pricing changes by
arguing that customer cost complaintsare based on misunderstanding
the software bundle's value.
Some customers report costincreases of eight to 15 times
under Broadcom's new subscriptionmodel, and one city IT manager saw

(01:09):
VMware maintenance jump from 900,
Joe Baguley, Broadcom's CTO forEMEA defends the pricing changes by
arguing that customer cost complaintsare based on misunderstanding
the software bundle's value.
Some customers may disagree.
Reporting cost increase of eightto 15 times under Broadcom's

(01:32):
new subscription model
Broadcom argues that the newbundle delivers superior value.
By integrating multiple functionspreviously requiring separate
tools, the company positions VMwareCloud Foundation as a comprehensive
platform backed by billions in R andD investment that replaces what VMware

(01:53):
calls inferior existing software.
Critics argue that bundling forcescustomers to pay for unused features.
Supporters counter withasking for roles and features.
A la carte is pure ignorance giventhe integrated platform benefits, but
vMware's pricing controversy comes at atime of wider enterprise computing cost.

(02:16):
Challenges IDC surveys show that 70 to80% of companies are repatriating at least
some data from public cloud annually,with 86% of CIOs planning workload moves
back to private cloud or on premises.
Two examples we've covered.
Geico experienced a 2.5 cloud costincrease after migrating 600 plus

(02:41):
applications and 37 signals the companythat produces Basecamp Projects $7 million
in savings over five years by abandoningAWS for on-premises infrastructure.
InfoWorld reported that 43% ofIT leaders found Cloud migration
more expensive than expected.

(03:03):
Both VMware and cloud providers facesimilar customer complaints about
unexpected costs, , but cloud companieswould argue that it requires substantial
changes to get the savings of cloudcompanies using lift and shift cloud
approaches without optimization.
Experience the worst cost explosionsLikewise, VMware is arguing that

(03:25):
customers not fully utilizing bundledfeatures are facing similar value gaps.
The challenge for enterprisesdistinguishing between legitimate
platform complexity requiring newapproaches versus vendor strategies
that maximize revenue through forcedbundling and optimization requirements.

(03:46):
intel's first target for outsourcing.
Leveraging AI will bemost marketing operations.
The company is outsourcing to Accenturewith AI automation, eliminating jobs
across its global marketing organization.
Now if this really is a move to savemoney, given the billing rate of Accenture
staff, we can assume that the majority ofthe work will be handled by AI affected

(04:12):
employees learn their fate by July 11thAs new CEO Lib-Bu Tan cuts costs to
save Intel's struggling chip business.
intel communications state that thecompany believes that Accenture,
using artificial intelligence, willdo a better job connecting with
customers than their in-house teams.

(04:32):
The company told employees the transitionwill cause significant changes to team
structures, including potential headcountreductions with only lean teams remaining.
Tan who became CEO in March israpidly reshaping intel after
years of declining sales and missedopportunities in the AI chip market.

(04:55):
the company has previously announcedmanufacturing layoffs affecting
up to 20% of factory workers,potentially thousands of jobs.
Intel claims AI will analyze large amountsof information faster, automate routine
tasks, personalize customer experiences,and make smarter business decisions.

(05:15):
Remaining internal teams will focus onstrategic, creative, and high impact
work rather than day-to-day execution.
Intel referred to a knowledge transferexpectation in their internal memos.
This may be one of the more difficultthings, In, any outsourcing where
employees are required to train theirreplacements during the transition.

(05:39):
Presumably there will be more layoffsat Intel and more efforts to use AI to
drive down costs with marketing beingonly the first major area targeted, and
it's likely we'll hear similar storiesfrom companies both large and small.
Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy told employeesjust this week that AI will likely
reduce his company's workforce over time.

(06:02):
Intel's Gamble, however, representsa fundamental shift from internal
marketing expertise to externalalgorithm driven operations.
The company's placing a bet thatAI has advanced enough to make
traditional marketing roles obsolete,and of course, it will depend
on the implementation, but this.
Area may be less of agamble than we think.

(06:25):
coincidentally, on our weekend show lastweekend, we had a discussion with the CEO
of a Canadian business who shared thathis biggest wins on quality and efficiency
had been in replacing marketing with ai.
And while Most of us think of marketingas highly creative, and parts of it are.
Much of what occurs though isanalytical and algorithmic.

(06:46):
With that and the leaps that haveoccurred in terms of visual video
and audio creation and editing,marketing may be one of the big
targets for AI in the coming months.
For Intel's workforce, the July11th deadline creates what someone
called compressed uncertainty.
Tan is moving fast as he implementsone of the most aggressive corporate

(07:07):
overhauls in the company's history.
Out of necessity, some mightsay desperation to turn
around this failing giant.
The question remains, how manycorporate functions will be
deemed suitable for outsourcingto AI powered consulting firms?
And if this is even moderatelysuccessful, how long before that
will extend to other companies?

(07:32):
Elon Musk criticized his own AIchatbot Grok after it stated that
right wing political violence hasbeen more frequent and deadly than
left wing violence since 2016.
Musk called the response a major failand said Grok is parroting legacy media.
He also added the cryptic comment.

(07:53):
Working on it, which presumablymeans he's going to get that fixed,
but what exactly is he fixing?
When asked, which politicalside had been more violent since
2016, grok cited data since 2016.
Data suggests right wing politicalviolence has been more frequent and
deadly with incidents like the January6th Capitol riot and mass shootings El

(08:17):
Paso 2019 causing significant fatalities.
Grok balanced its response.
Noting left-wing violence whilerising, especially during 2020.
Protests is less lethal,often targeting property.
When questioned about Musk'scriticism, Grok doubled down.
I don't fully agree with Elon Musk's claimthat my analysis was objectively false

(08:42):
Data from sources like the PNAS studyand CSIS shows right wing violence
since 2016 has been more frequent.
267 incidents, 91 deaths anddeadlier than left-wing violence
with 66 incidents and 19 deaths.
But this isn't Musk's first clashwith his truth seeking chatbot.

(09:05):
Grok has previously called Muska top misinformation spreader on
X and refused to mock transgenderathletes despite Musk's direction.
The incident highlights tensionbetween Musk's stated goal of
creating an anti woke AI and hisfrustration when it reports data
contradicting his political narratives.

(09:26):
Musk's promise to fix GR suggests hemay modify the AI to align with his
views rather than neutral analysis.
Undermining the truth seekingmission He originally promoted.
Given yesterday's story about how AISmay engage in deceptive practices, this
is yet another attack vector, which mayaffect, if not the reliability, then

(09:49):
at least the faith we place in AI data.
Our advice is and remains that when dataaccuracy is an issue or when objectivity
is an issue, beyond using human logicand critical thinking, which is the first
step, users should always seek answersfrom multiple AI models and compare them.

(10:12):
And that's our show.
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i'm your host, Jim Love.
Have a terrific Tuesday.