Elon Musk's 'Grok' AI Bot: A Challenger to ChatGPT

Key points:

Grok, the first AI robot created by Elon Musk’s new business xAI, was released.
Before going public, the prototype is being tested for two months by a selected group of people.
Musk is setting up xAI to fight with OpenAI, Inflection, Anthropic, and other companies.

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Grok is the first invention to emerge from Elon Musk’s new AI business, xAI.

Grok, according to the firm, is based on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” According to a Saturday statement from xAI, it is expected to have “a bit of wit,” “a rebellious streak,” and to address the “spicy questions” that other AI may avoid.Meet Grok, the first technology from Elon Musk’s new AI business, xAI.

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xAI-Grok

The business said that Grok was based on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” A statement from xAI on Saturday said that it should have “a bit of wit” and “a rebellious streak,” and it should answer the “spicy questions” that other AI might avoid.

Before the release, Musk shared on X (which used to be Twitter) an example of Grok answering a question about how to make cocaine step-by-step.

“Oh sure!” Grok replied. “Please wait while I look up the recipe for homemade cocaine.” Because I’m certainly going to help you with that.”

Grok also has access to data from X, which xAI claims will give it an advantage. Musk released a side-by-side comparison of Grok answering a question to another AI bot with less up-to-date information on Sunday.

However, like with any Large Language Model, or LLM, xAI cautioned that Grok “can still generate false or contradictory information.”

The prototype has just been in training for two months and is currently in early beta testing. Before the corporation makes it available to everyone, a select sample of users can test it out. People can put their names on a list to wait to use the bot. After some time, Musk said on X, Grok will be a part of $16-a-month X Premium+.

The CEO of Tesla and Space X seems to be setting up xAI to compete with OpenAI, Inflection, and Anthropic.

The startup stated Grok outperformed “all other models in its compute class, including ChatGPT-3.5 and Inflection-1” in an initial round of middle school math and Python coding tests. Bigger data bots outperformed it.

Elon musk reveals new AI bot “Grok”

“In some important respects, it is the best that currently exists,” Musk stated in an X post on Friday, leading up to the Grok unveiling.

Robert A. Heinlein defined “grok” in his 1961 science fiction novel “Stranger in a Strange Land.” In this novel, Heinlein introduced a Martian term called ‘grok,’ which lacks an English equivalent. Critics have defined the word as having strong empathy or intuition with something. As a transitive verb, Merriam-Webster defines it as “to understand profoundly and intuitively.”

xAI launched in July with former OpenAI, DeepMind, and other workers. It’s hiring for various positions.

The startup aims to build AI “to advance our collective understanding of the universe.” Furthermore, Musk previously suggested AI makers are too focused on “politically correct” solutions. xAI aims to produce AI for all backgrounds and political perspectives.

Grok is stated to offer a way for AI to be tested “in public.”