Elon Musk, through his startup xAI, has announced the launch of his own generative artificial intelligence designed to compete with ChatGPT. It’s worth noting that the billionaire signed an open letter calling for a moratorium on AI development earlier this year. The AI in question is called Grok, a word taken from Robert A. Heinlein’s science fiction novel “Stranger in a Strange Land,” which means to fully understand something.
Grok has the unique feature of having real-time access to information through X (formerly Twitter). xAI also indicates that Grok will answer questions that other chatbots refuse. According to the announcement, this AI is in beta and has been trained for only two months, so it is expected to improve over time. The large language model behind the chatbot is called Grok-1 and has reportedly outperformed GPT-3.5 on some tests like GSM8k, MMLU, and HumanEval. However, it is still far from the scores of GPT-4 and Claude 2.
A Premium X Subscription Will Be Required
Evidently, Elon Musk has changed his mind about the name he initially intended to use, as earlier this year, he expressed his intention to develop TruthGPT, accusing his competitors of training AIs to lie. Grok’s personality, according to xAI, draws inspiration from Douglas Adams’ book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and tends to respond with humor. An example given is a question about the production of cocaine, including steps like “obtaining a degree in chemistry” and “setting up a clandestine laboratory in an isolated location.”
To use Grok, you’ll need to join a waiting list. This list is only open to certified users, meaning those who pay around ten euros per month for a Premium X subscription. Additionally, you’ll need to allow the AI to access your X account, which enables it to see all the posts visible to you, including protected accounts.