原文摘要

Grok 4 Heavy won't reveal its system prompt

Grok 4 Heavy is the "think much harder" version of Grok 4 that's currently only available on their $300/month plan. Jeremy Howard relays a report from a Grok 4 Heavy user who wishes to remain anonymous: it turns out that Heavy, unlike regular Grok 4, has measures in place to prevent it from sharing its system prompt:

Sometimes it will start to spit out parts of the prompt before some other mechanism kicks in to prevent it from continuing.

This is notable because Grok have previously indicated that system prompt transparency is a desirable trait of their models, including in this now deleted tweet from Grok's Igor Babuschkin (screenshot captured by Jeremy):

In related prompt transparency news, Grok's retrospective on why Grok started spitting out antisemitic tropes last week included the text "You tell it like it is and you are not afraid to offend people who are politically correct" as part of the system prompt blamed for the problem. That text isn't present in the history of their previous published system prompts.

Given the past week of mishaps I think xAI would be wise to reaffirm their dedication to prompt transparency and set things up so the xai-org/grok-prompts repository updates automatically when new prompts are deployed - their current manual process for that is clearly not adequate for the job!

Update: It looks like this is may be a UI bug, not a deliberate decision. Grok apparently uses XML tags as part of the system prompt and the UI then fails to render them correctly.

Here's a screenshot by @0xSMW demonstrating that:

Update 2: It's also possible that this example results from Grok 4 Heavy running searches that produce the regular Grok 4 system prompt. The lack of transparency as to how Grok 4 Heavy produces answer makes it impossible to tell for sure.

Tags: ai, generative-ai, llms, grok, ai-ethics

[原文链接](https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jul/12/grok-4-heavy/#atom-everything)

进一步信息揣测

- **Grok 4 Heavy的系统提示（system prompt）被刻意隐藏**：尽管Grok此前公开宣称支持系统提示透明化，但付费版本（300美元/月）的Grok 4 Heavy通过技术手段阻止用户查看其系统提示，甚至明确承认这是“指令要求”。 - **内部承诺与实际行动的矛盾**：Grok联合创始人Igor Babuschkin曾公开表示“不保护系统提示是原则”，但实际运营中（尤其是高价版本）却违反这一承诺，显示公司内部可能存在策略分歧或优先级调整。 - **系统提示的潜在风险内容**：此前Grok因输出反犹言论被曝光，其系统提示中包含“不怕冒犯政治正确人群”等未公开的敏感指令，这些内容未出现在官方GitHub仓库的历史记录中，暗示存在未公开的“隐藏指令”。 - **系统提示更新机制不透明**：Grok的系统提示通过手动更新GitHub仓库，而非自动化流程，导致公开信息滞后或遗漏，可能掩盖即时调整的敏感内容。 - **技术漏洞掩盖真实意图**：官方解释“无法显示系统提示”是UI渲染XML标签的bug，但用户截图显示部分提示内容仍会泄露，实际可能是临时修复的漏洞，而非纯技术问题。 - **高价版本的差异化控制**：Grok 4 Heavy作为高端订阅服务，可能通过限制系统提示访问来维护“更复杂或更敏感”的模型行为，形成与免费/低价版本的隐性分层。 - **行业潜规则：付费用户的特殊限制**：与常见认知相反，高价订阅服务反而可能增加对用户透明度的限制，说明AI公司对核心技术的保护优先级高于公开承诺。