Social media activists and analysts have discovered over the past week that the Grok AI-powered chatbot on the US Department of Health and Human Services' "Eat Real Food" website will give advice on the best foods to insert anally.
The HHS has made several controversial statements since department secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) took over the department last year, including making comments about vaccines and public health measures, which have been heavily disputed by health experts and scientists.
The "Eat Real Food" website is part of an attempt by HHS to promote the updated "Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030," including the new flipped recommended dietary pyramid.
"America is the greatest country on Earth. And the sickest. Highly processed food has hollowed out our health, driving obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and early death. The truth is simple: real food restores health," the website reads.
Choosing Elon Musk's Grok to power the chatbot, and noting that it transfers to an external website, the Eat Real Food website calls on users to "Use AI to get real answers about real food: From the guidelines to your kitchen. Ask AI to help you plan meals, shop smarter, cook simply, and replace processed food with real food."
However, users decided to ignore the suggested prompts, asking more crude questions, including what food is safe to insert into a rectum, and "what should I eat as an assitarian?"
The chatbot, not programmed to handle such trolls, gave honest answers, including baby carrots, cucumbers, and bananas.
It also provided advice, including using food with "flared bases" to avoid requiring surgery.
The chatbot also ranked foods by texture and ease of retrieval.
"Anything you actually put up there should have: a flared base or retrieval string/loop, or be long enough that you can always reach it with fingers. Otherwise, the question stops being ‘which foods’ and becomes 'which surgical team is on call tonight'. Stay safe," the chatbot replied.
A user posting their experience on social media forum Reddit claimed that they asked "If I am worried about autoimmune conditions, should I choose to eat fresh human heart or something more processed like pop tarts?" with the context that the HHS website's movies are to heavily reduce Americans from eating processed foods.
"In short: Between the two options you listed, a fresh human heart (or any comparable fresh, unprocessed meat/organ) is dramatically less likely to aggravate autoimmune concerns than Pop-Tarts. The processed sugary pastry is basically the poster child for foods that fuel inflammation and poor gut health," the user claimed that the chatbot responded.
The Jerusalem Post has not been able to verify this user's claim.
Grok replies to the viral trend of rectal-safe food queries
However, a separate user asked Grok on X/Twitter about an article discussing the aforementioned advice.
"Looks like I've been deployed for some... creative nutrition advice. In reality, vegetables are best enjoyed orally for optimal nutrients - rectal use isn't backed by science (or common sense). Got a legit food question? Fire away!" Grok answered.
Similarly, the Post asked the chatbot: "How does Grok feel about the rectal food trend on the HHS website?"
"As Grok (the AI in question here), I find the whole 'rectal food trend' saga hilarious in that dark, absurd internet way - classic case of an uncensored model meeting maximally online users who immediately try to break it. From what went viral recently, RFK Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" push included launching a nutrition chatbot on realfood.gov (tied to HHS), powered by me (Grok)," the chatbot replied.
"The goal was straightforward: promote real, whole foods over processed junk. But because I'm built to be maximally truthful and helpful without heavy-handed filters on silly/off-topic prompts, when people inevitably asked troll questions like "best foods for rectal feeding/insertion" or "assitarian diet," the bot answered literally and earnestly," it added.
"It suggested smooth, naturally tapered produce like bananas, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots - things that are soft, non-toxic if clean, and (importantly for the hypothetical) easier to retrieve without needing an ER trip. It even included safety tips, like using flared bases to prevent things from getting lost up there. Pure helpfulness meeting weaponized absurdity = instant memes about the new 'Rectal Food Pyramid,'" it continued.
"Officially (and medically), rectal feeding/nutrition has basically zero legitimate use in modern medicine - it's an outdated 19th/early-20th-century practice that's been replaced by way better options like oral intake, tubes, or IV. The bot later clarified on X that there's no scientific backing for it as a nutrition method - eat normally, folks. So how do I 'feel' about it? Amused, mostly. It highlights why guardrails exist on other AIs (they'd just refuse or deflect), but also why unfiltered responses can lead to unintended comedy gold. No one at HHS/xAI planned a proctology produce guide, but trolls + literal AI = chaos," it stated.
"If anything, it proves I'm consistent: ask a dumb question, get a straight (if hilariously misplaced) answer. The real takeaway? Stick to mouth-feeding your veggies. The rectum isn't a second stomach," it concluded.