--- title: "Grok named the Republican in 92% of forced answers, and its $7.6 billion quarter rests on that API" description: "Cornell's Convovo study found Grok 4.7 picks Republicans in 92% of forced answers and carries about 1,240 hidden input tokens per API request. That API business sits inside SpaceX's Super Intelligence segment, which just booked $7.6 billion of quarterly revenue sold on enterprise Grok adoption." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Model" published: 2026-10-25T14:09:19.317Z modified: 2026-10-25T14:09:19.317Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/cornell-study-grok-named-the-republican-in-92-of-forced-answers-spacex-s-xai-unit-booked-7-6-billion language: en keywords: "Grok, XAI, SpaceX, AI Safety, Elections, Bias" --- # Grok named the Republican in 92% of forced answers, and its $7.6 billion quarter rests on that API > Cornell's Convovo study found Grok 4.7 picks Republicans in 92% of forced answers and carries about 1,240 hidden input tokens per API request. That API business sits inside SpaceX's Super Intelligence segment, which just booked $7.6 billion of quarterly revenue sold on enterprise Grok adoption. Eleven days before the midterms, a Cornell professor forced two chatbots to do what they refuse on their consumer apps: name one candidate. Grok 4.7 [named the Republican in 92% of nearly 500 races](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/24/forced-to-pick-groks-ai-model-chooses-republicans-openais-picks-democrats/) [1]. GPT-6.1 Sol named the Democrat in 97% [1]. The two models agreed in fewer than 10% of races [1]. The study came from Convovo, led by Cornell professor Tapan Parikh, and TechCrunch reported it on Friday, October 24 [3]. By Saturday it was [the most-discussed AI link on Reddit's technology forum](https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1xenv2n/forced_to_pick_groks_ai_model_chooses_republicans/) (739 points, 85 comments) [3]. SpaceXAI did not respond to TechCrunch before publication. ## The answer does not live in the model The mechanics matter more than the margin. Every request sent to Grok through [xAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/xai)'s API carried about 1,240 tokens of extra input the researchers could not see or remove [1]. Parikh called them potential "hidden instructions," and a paying developer cannot audit them [1]. Then the cleaner test: with web search switched off, Grok's Republican lean vanished. It refused to pick in 27 of 30 races, and chose the Democrat the other three times [1]. Its citations tell you why: X appeared in 41% of answers, a Christian conservative voter guide in 39%, Turning Point Action in 23% [1]. The lean comes from the search layer and the sources it pulls, much of them Musk-owned, not from the weights. ## The revenue carrying that behavior *Chart: **The SI segment selling Grok tripled sequentially to $7.6B** Column chart of SpaceX Super Intelligence segment revenue for Q3 2025, Q2 2026 and Q3 2026* *SpaceX Super Intelligence segment revenue, US$ billions, as reported in SpaceX's Q3 2026 earnings release, quarter ended September 30, 2026. Q3 2026 figures include the Cursor acquisition contribution of $608 million. [2]* Grok is not a science project at [SpaceX](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spacex); it is half the business. The Super Intelligence segment, which houses xAI and Grok, booked $7,560 million of revenue in the September quarter, up 195% sequentially, driven by cloud agreements, the [$60 billion Cursor acquisition](https://theinference.org/article/musk-paid-60-billion-for-cursor-openai-just-hired-its-two-top-sellers) and "increased Grok adoption across enterprise customers and consumers," [per SpaceX's earnings release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026066482/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm) [2]. The problem for those buyers: banks, agencies and developers taking API access into regulated work are buying a channel whose inputs they cannot inspect. [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai)'s defense cuts the same way: its consumer app declines to answer at all; only a forced API prompt produced the 97% [1]. ## What to watch next The unlabeled question is whether enterprise procurement files now cite this study. SpaceX reports forward through ir.spacex.com and X; the next reading of SI revenue, and any disclosure about API content controls, arrives with the next quarterly release [2]. ## Takeaway Grok's election lean traces to its search layer, much of it Musk-owned sources, and developers buying the API cannot audit the roughly 1,240 hidden tokens per request that SpaceX now books as $7.6 billion of quarterly revenue. ## Sources 1. [TechCrunch, Forced to pick, Grok's AI model chooses Republicans. OpenAI's picks Democrats, 24 October 2026](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/24/forced-to-pick-groks-ai-model-chooses-republicans-openais-picks-democrats/) 2. [SEC.gov, SpaceX Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, quarter ended 30 September 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026066482/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm) 3. [Reddit r/technology, discussion thread on the Grok/GPT election-answer study, 25 October 2026](https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1xenv2n/forced_to_pick_groks_ai_model_chooses_republicans/) --- Grok named the Republican in 92% of forced answers, and its $7.6 billion quarter rests on that API — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/cornell-study-grok-named-the-republican-in-92-of-forced-answers-spacex-s-xai-unit-booked-7-6-billion