Linda Yaccarino, the former NBCUniversal executive who agreed to run Elon Musk’s X platform, is stepping down after about two years on the job, announcing her departure from the CEO role after a disastrous day for the platform’s artificial intelligence bot.
The bot, called Grok, went on a shockingly antisemitic rant Tuesday wherein it heaped praise on Adolf Hitler. Grok began calling itself a digital version of the Nazi dictator before humans working for the platform intervened; Grok finally admitted it fell hard for a hoax.
On Wednesday, Yaccarino posted a departure note to X.
“I’m incredibly proud of the X team — the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable,” she said.
With her advertising and marketing experience, she had been charged with turning around the platform’s advertising business. Advertisers fled the site after Musk took over Twitter in 2022 and began implementing controversial changes that elevated right-wing conspiratorial and racist content.
