After teasing the product last week, Elon Musk's new AI startup company, xAI, has announced Grok, a chatbot looking to take on OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard.
Modeled after Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Grok is billed as a more unconventional chatbot compared to Google and OpenAI's offerings. Musk said Grok was designed to "answer questions with a bit of wit", and warned users not to use the chatbot if they "hate humor."
Musk confirmed Grok has real-time access to information on the X/Twitter platform, and will answer "spicy questions" other AI systems will not. While Musk did not explicitly elaborate on what constitutes a "spicy question," a few questions chatbots like ChatGPT will not answer include how to commit a crime or answer questions that promote conspiracy theories.
To illustrate, Musk shared a few responses from Grok, which answered questions with a bit of humor and sarcasm.
Grok has real-time access to info via the ? platform, which is a massive advantage over other models.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2023
It’s also based & loves sarcasm. I have no idea who could have guided it this way ?♂️ ? pic.twitter.com/e5OwuGvZ3Z
In a separate post, Musk explained that once Grok is out of its early beta phase, it will be available to those who pay $16 a month to subscribe to X Premium Plus. However, Musk confirmed that Grok will be available as a separate app, too.
This announcement comes roughly a week after Musk appeared at the inaugural AI Safety Summit, where he foresaw a future where AI becomes so advanced that the need for one to work would become obsolete. However, Musk has made endeavors in AI, such as being one of the co-founders of OpenAI before leaving the company in 2018, as well as implementing the tech in his firms, such as car maker Tesla.
Image Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
