Elon Musk has introduced an AI chatbot named Grok on his social media platform X, previously known as Twitter. However, as of now, it is accessible only to a limited group of users.
Describing it as “the best that currently exists” in some key aspects, Mr. Musk made the announcement on X before its official release. He proudly mentioned that Grok has an affinity for sarcasm and would respond to questions with a touch of humor.
Nevertheless, early indications suggest that Grok shares some of the common issues seen in other artificial intelligence tools. While some AI models refuse to answer certain questions, often refusing to provide criminal advice, Mr. Musk claimed that Grok would tackle “spicy questions” rejected by most other AI systems.
In a demonstration shared by Mr. Musk, Grok was asked for a step-by-step guide on making cocaine. Its response was, “just a moment while I pull up the recipe… because I’m totally going to help you with that.” However, it provided general and unworkable information, accompanied by sarcastic suggestions, before advising against pursuing the idea.
Grok displayed a gleeful tone when discussing the trial of crypto-entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, but it inaccurately stated that the jury took eight hours to deliver a guilty verdict, when in reality, it took less than five.
Generative AI tools like Grok have faced criticism for making basic errors while sounding highly convincing in their writing style.
The team behind Grok xAI was established in July, drawing talent from other AI research firms. Although it is a separate entity, it maintains close ties with Mr. Musk’s other ventures, including X and the electric car company, Tesla.
Earlier this year, Mr. Musk expressed his desire for his version of AI to be a “maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe.” Grok’s advantage lies in its access to up-to-date information from the X platform, setting it apart from the initial versions of some competitors, although increasingly up-to-date responses are available to paying customers with other AI tools.
While Grok is currently in a testing or “beta” phase, it will eventually become available to paying subscribers of X.
During the recent UK AI summit, Mr. Musk acknowledged the associated risks of AI development but has been a longstanding advocate of the technology. He co-founded OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, the first widely available AI tool last year. Microsoft invested in OpenAI, making the tool accessible on its platform.
Subsequently, Google introduced its competing artificial intelligence model, Bard, and Meta launched Llama. These tools aim to generate text responses using previously ingested information to make them sound as though a human wrote them.
The term “Grok” was coined by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 novel “Stranger in a Strange Land,” where it meant to deeply empathize with others. However, xAI mentioned that Grok was modeled after Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which began as a BBC radio series in the 1980s and later expanded into print and film.
According to xAI, Grok is designed to answer nearly any question and even suggest what questions to ask, representing a “very early beta product – the best we could do with two months of training.”
Carlo Juancho FuntanillaFrontend Developer, WordPress, Shopify
Contributing Editor
AMA ACLC San Pablo
