Elon Musk’s new company, xAI, has officially revealed its AI chatbot, Grok. Taking inspiration from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Grok is designed to be a “maximum truth-seeking AI” that not only answers questions but also suggests new ones. According to xAI, Grok has a rebellious streak and a touch of wit, making it particularly skilled at tackling those spicy questions that other AI chatbots might avoid.
However, Musk has hinted that there are certain sensitive queries that Grok will not answer. In a recent example shared on the X platform, Grok responded humorously to a request for a step-by-step cocaine recipe. It remains unclear whether this response was pre-programmed or a genuine display of Grok’s humor, as Musk claims.
One of Grok’s unique advantages is its real-time knowledge of the world through the X platform. It has access to real-time posts on X and can browse the internet to fetch updated information on specific topics. This sets it apart from other AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard.
Currently, Grok is in the early beta stage and is only available to a limited number of users in the United States for testing and feedback purposes. Interested individuals can join the Grok waitlist. Musk also announced that Grok will be accessible to subscribers of X’s Premium Plus plan once it exits the early beta phase. The Premium Plus plan costs $16 per month and offers ad-free access to X.
The development of Grok was driven by the large language model, Grok-1. Over several months, it was trained on a cluster of tens of thousands of GPUs. Training data was sourced from the web, and feedback from human assistants, referred to as “AI tutors,” was utilized. xAI claims that Grok surpasses all other models in its compute class, potentially surpassing ChatGPT and Bard. To further enhance the user experience, Grok will be equipped with other senses such as vision and audio for broader applications and real-time interactions.
Ironically, Grok’s introduction comes shortly after Musk’s participation in the AI Safety Summit, where he warned about the potential dangers of AI. xAI, with guidance from Musk and experts from various fields, including DeepMind, OpenAI, and Tesla, collaborates with X and other companies to drive the development of Grok.
