Mark Cuban Confronts Elon Musk’s AfD Remarks With His Own AI Chatbot

What’s New

Following the collapse of the German coalition government this week, billionaire Mark Cuban used Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot on X, formerly Twitter, to investigate a comment by the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, likening the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to the U.S. Democratic Party of 2008.

Cuban’s AI generated post argued that the German party is more similar to the Republican Party than the Democratic Party. However, some X users pointed out that Cuban did not clarify to Grok that Musk’s comparison referred to the Democratic Party of 2008, when then-President Barack Obama took office.

Newsweek has reached out to Cuban and X’s press team for comment via email on Saturday.

Why It Matters

The AfD, which in September became the first far-right political party to win a state election in the country since World War II, has become increasingly more popular in recent years. The country’s judiciary has labeled the party a “suspected extremist” group since 2021, most recently ruling in 2024 to uphold the designation.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote on Monday and AfD is likely to court a fair share of supporters in the country’s upcoming snap elections.

In recent days, Musk has posted his support of AfD on X, writing that the party is “the only hope for Germany,” and “only the AfD can save Germany.”

The comments sparked controversy among some, as the party is known for its anti-immigrant and far-right policies, and Musk serves as an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump.

What to Know

On Friday afternoon, in response to Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, telling CNN‘s Dana Bash that Musk is essentially supporting a “neo-Nazi” and “extremist group,” Musk wrote on X: “What a huge liar. The AfD policies are identical to those of the US Democratic Party when Obama took office! I don’t think there is a single difference.”

Cuban then used X’s AI bot to dissect AfD’s policy platform, finding the party “most closely resembles the **Republican Party** in the United States, particularly in its current, more right-wing to far-right incarnation.”

Cuban wrote on X, “I love @grok. It’s literally the reason I keep this app,” in reference to the chatbot that offers users support in answering questions and responding to posts.

In the comments, he posted the prompt he used for the post, “Which American party is it most like,” in reference to AfD. Some X users flagged that the prompt did not incorporate the timeframe of 2008, which was Musk’s argument, and therefore isn’t an accurate retort to Musk’s comment.

The bot identified five areas of policy overlap between the AfD and the GOP: nationalism and patriotism, immigration and cultural issues, Euroscepticism vs. anti-globalism, conservative social policies, and economic policies.

However, the bot also identified areas of convergence, noting them as political context, historical context, and cultural and racial rhetoric. On the latter, Grok found, “The specifics of AfD’s rhetoric on immigration, Islam, and national identity can be more extreme than the mainstream Republican discourse, though there are fringes within the Republican Party that might align more closely.”

In conclusion of the nearly 370-word post, Grok wrote: “In summary, while the AfD shares ideological ground with the Republican Party, especially on nationalism, immigration, and cultural conservatism, the parties’ overall political strategies, historical developments, and the political environments in which they operate differ significantly.”

What People Are Saying

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said Musk’s decision to meddle into German politics was “undignified and highly problematic,” as reported by The Guardian.

Ian Bremmer, political scientist and author, replied to Musk’s post on Friday afternoon: “afd = obama democrats is quite the take. afd is much more “germany first” on fossil fuels/climate change, lgbtq/identity politics, pro-life, immigration, esp vis muslims and many others.”

Senator Murphy posted a screenshot of Musk’s post supporting AfD, writing on Friday: “The AfD’s mission is to rehabilitate the image of the Nazi movement. One leader’s license plate is an open tribute to Hitler. A top AfD official said about migrants, ‘We can always shoot them later…or gas them.’ Another described Judaism as the ‘inner enemy’ in Germany.”

What Happens Next

Germany is set to hold its snap elections in February 2025.