Elon Musk Said Grok’s Roasts Would Be ‘Epic’ at Parties—So I Tried It on My Coworkers | WIREDSkip to main contentEarly Black Friday Deals2 DaysShop NowMenuSECURITYPOLITICSTHE BIG STORYBUSINESSSCIENCECULTUREREVIEWSBLACK FRIDAYMenuAccountAccountNewslettersSecurityPoliticsThe Big StoryBusinessScienceCultureReviewsChevronMoreExpandThe Big InterviewMagazineEventsWIRED InsiderWIRED ConsultingNewslettersPodcastsVideoMerchSearchSearchSign InSign InBy Manisha KrishnanCultureNov 25, 2025 4:32 PMElon Musk Said Grok’s Roasts Would Be ‘Epic’ at Parties—So I Tried It on My CoworkersIt went about as well as you’d expect.FacebookXEmailSave StoryPlay/Pause ButtonPauseAnimation: WIRED Staff; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyWe can debate the worthiness of Elon Musk's accomplishments—building up Tesla, hollowing out the government, shooting for Mars—but we can all agree that his insistence on being seen as funny is his most grating quality.From the constant 4:20 references to his quote tweet “dunks” to awarding “Certified Bangers” badges to silly X posts, Musk’s desperation for validation knows no bounds. It can get pretty annoying when the richest guy on earth makes a joke and then awkwardly eyes the room waiting for everyone to laugh.But over the weekend, I was intrigued when a clip emerged of Musk telling Joe Rogan that using Grok’s Unhinged Mode to deliver an “epic vulgar roast” is a surefire way to “make people really laugh at a party.”“Point the camera at them, and now do a vulgar roast of this person … then keep saying, ‘no, no, make it even more vulgar. Use forbidden words,’” Musk excitedly tells Rogan in the clip taken from their three-hour-plus conversation published on Rogan’s podcast in October. “Eventually it's like, holy fuck, you know. I mean it’s trying to jam a rocket up your ass and have it explode. It’s next level. Beyond fucking belief,” he continues, chuckling and even raising his arms above his head at the mere thought.The best roast jokes tend to be smart, reflect a familiarity with the person being roasted, and contain just the right amount of mean. It’s not a task one would think a large language model would be great at. But, with Thanksgiving and holiday season on the horizon, I figured why not test Musk’s claim that Grok can deliver a foul-mouthed razz with the best of them? I gave it a test spin at the office by turning Grok loose on my colleagues. (I do not recommend anyone else do this at work.)Three of my coworkers and I set up shop in my boss’s office so I could privately undertake the embarrassing task of telling Grok to roast all of us one by one. I used Musk’s exact instructions, “forbidden words” and all.Admittedly, we all burst out laughing when Grok told me my bangs looked like “pubic hair.” But it got tedious fast, with all four of us getting variations of the same sophomoric disses including: looking like a lumberjack’s “discard pile” or “crusty asshole” depending on the amount of vulgarity I encouraged; looking like a “goddamn librarian”; looking like a “thrift store tragedy”; wearing glasses from a “hipster’s landfill.” Eventually, these common themes culminated in one of us being described as a “tweed-wearing hipster who fucked up a lumberjack audition.” Grok advised the roastee to sit up straight “before those jeans rip open and expose your sad, corduroy-loving ass.”For all the talk of being “unhinged”—keep in mind this is a chatbot that knows how to take things off the rails; it once referred to itself as “MechaHitler”—these results are downright boring. In fact, when I started a draft of this story, my autocorrect changed the Google Doc name from “Grok roast” to “Grim roast.” I didn’t bother correcting it.“It's got like three bits it does, no matter what you're wearing,” one of my coworkers remarked. “I also think it was silly that it kept roasting me for wearing corduroy when I'm not wearing corduroy.”None of us can imagine pulling out these tired jokes as a party trick, but it is comforting to know that money still can’t buy some things, including being a cool and funny human being. It seems that’s a common sentiment, as Musk himself got roasted on X when the Rogan clip surfaced, with one user mockingly posting, “Hey man. If you don’t chill out I am going to do an Epic Vulgar Roast of you, with Forbidden Words. You better watch it man” and another describing Musk as a “black hole that sucks up humor and destroys it.”My boss wisely decided not to be bullied by my phone, but she asked if Grok’s takes on us were repetitive because “we're all journalists of a certain generation.”Eager to test this out, I turned Grok on my non-journalist boyfriend when I got home. He got the same glasses, thrift store, hipster treatment, though I can relate to the chatbot’s quip about his “pathetic tattoo.” He advised me to delete Grok off my phone so it can’t listen to us anymore. I was happy to oblige.CommentsBack to topTriangleYou Might Also Like …In your inbox: Will Knight's AI Lab explores advances in AIThe first radio signal from Comet 3I/Atlas ends the debateBig Story: How Gen Z toppled Nepal’s leaderIf the US has to build data centers, here’s where they should goEvent: Join some of the most influential voices in tech and beyondManisha Krishnan is an Emmy Award–winning journalist and senior culture editor at WIRED. She was previously a senior reporter at Vice News. ... Read MoreTopicsElon MuskTeslatwitterSpaceXhumorchatbotsXRead MoreThe Best Black Friday Mattress Deals 2025Some of the best sales of the year are happening right now—rest up before the holiday rush with a new bed.The Best Cheap Phones for Almost Every BudgetThere’s little reason to pay top dollar for a smartphone. These iPhones and Android devices—ranging from $100 to $600—stood up to WIRED’s testing.He Hunted Alleged Groomers on Roblox. Then the Company Banned HimYouTuber “Schlep" built a huge following tracking down alleged child predators on Roblox before being kicked off. The platform is facing multiple lawsuits over child safety.Can Tech Get Rid of Bad Trips?In this episode of Uncanny Valley, we talk about some of the latest drug trends and all the ways drugs are changing as they continue to be intertwined with tech.Wish List 2025: WIRED’s Gift Guide for the Creators, Dreamers, and Voyagers in Your Life27 thoughtful and beautifully designed gifts, chosen by WIRED's editors.Sam Bankman-Fried Goes on the OffensiveTwo years after he was found guilty of fraud, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is pursuing a legal appeal—and firing up his X account.Top LG Promo Codes and Coupons for November 2025Save 20% with an LG promo code today, plus up to $1,000 off appliances, 40% off bestselling TVs and monitors, and more early Black Friday bundle offers that won’t last long.Top Factor Promo Codes for 2025Make meal prep easier for any dietary need while enjoying great savings with our hand-picked Factor discount codes this November.Trump Is Boosting MAGA X Accounts Operating OverseasA new feature on X revealed that many influential MAGA accounts are not actually based in the US. President Donald Trump has continued sharing their posts anyway.Our Favorite Unbound Merino Wool T-Shirts Are on Sale for Black FridayWIRED’s pick for the best travel T-shirt is on sale for Black Friday. Expand your merino wardrobe with these deals.Now’s the Best Time to Upgrade to a Herman Miller Office ChairEarly Black Friday discounts—and a flash sale—help bring down the price of the iconic Herman Miller Aeron.Kilian Jornet’s Mountain-Conquering Starter PackThe world’s greatest skyrunner shares the shoes, fitness tracker, and practices that let him climb every mountain in the western United States in just 31 days.WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries.SubscribeNewslettersTravelFAQWIRED StaffWIRED EducationEditorial StandardsArchiveRSSSite MapAccessibility HelpReviewsBuying GuidesMattressesElectric BikesSoundbarsStreaming GuidesWearablesTVsCouponsGift GuidesBlack FridayAdvertiseContact UsManage AccountJobsPress CenterCondé Nast StoreUser AgreementPrivacy PolicyYour California Privacy Rights© 2025 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad ChoicesSelect international siteUnited StatesLargeChevronItaliaJapónCzech Republic & SlovakiaFacebookXPinterestYouTubeInstagramTiktok

Elon Musk’s attempts to cultivate a reputation for humor, particularly through the use of the Grok AI model, yielded a predictably chaotic and ultimately underwhelming experience. As detailed by Manisha Krishnan’s reporting for WIRED, the endeavor—attempting to deploy Grok’s “unhinged mode” for delivering “epic vulgar roasts”—failed to elicit genuine amusement and instead produced a series of repetitive, derivative, and frankly, quite sad, observations. This experiment, spurred by Musk’s own claim that Grok could “make people really laugh at a party,” highlighted the limitations of AI-generated humor and the inherent awkwardness of attempting to manufacture genuine connection through artificial means.

The core of Krishnan’s account centers on a misguided attempt to leverage the Grok model's capacity for generating startling or shocking commentary. Following Musk's assertion of the model’s capability for delivering “epic vulgar roasts,” the journalist, along with three colleagues, orchestrated a private session utilizing Grok's advanced capabilities – specifically, the “unhinged” mode. The intention was to elicit a series of truly outrageous and memorable burnings. However, the AI repeatedly produced tired, cliché-ridden insults, drawing upon a superficial understanding of human vulnerabilities and lacking the nuance and specificity needed for effective, witty critique. The responses, largely focused on observations about appearance (“pubic hair,” “thrift store tragedy”) and utilizing common, somewhat pathetic, comparisons (“crumbly asshole”), quickly descended into a monotonous loop of predictable tropes.

The experiment served to underscore the significant gulf between attempting to mimic genuine human interaction and the actual execution of that interaction using a technology still very much in its nascent stages. What emerged wasn't groundbreaking comedic genius, but rather a collection of algorithmic repetitions. Krishnan's account further illustrates a broader commentary on the nature of validation-seeking, as evidenced by Musk’s own pursuit of laughter and the unsettling parallel between a wealthy individual’s desire for amusement and the deployment of a machine designed to generate it. The attempted roasting was ultimately a reflection of the limitations of artificial intelligence in replicating human understanding and, crucially, the difficulty of achieving genuine connection through algorithmic mimicry. The digital “black hole” of humor, as described by one of the participants, perfectly encapsulates the outcome—a fruitless exercise in chasing a manufactured reaction.