Grok AI Developed by Elon Musk: All You Need to Know

Grok [Video]

Video uploaded by TechLinked on November 6, 2023.

Elon Musk, CEO of 𝕏, has just unveiled Grok, a new AI that will eventually be integrated into the 𝕏 Premium subscription

Originally, Elon Musk co-founded the company, which is now led by Sam Altman since December 2015, before leaving in 2018. Several factors explain his departure. First, there were several “conflicts of interest” with Tesla and SpaceX, which were also developing their advanced AI models.

These conflicts officially led the entrepreneur to leave the company’s board of directors a few months before his departure. However, according to several internal sources, it was mainly his desire to control everything (and Sam Altman’s refusal to grant it) that really ended his involvement.

A few years later, OpenAI launched GPT-4, with the known success. By then, Elon Musk already had a competing AI project in the works, but obviously, it remained difficult to compete with the latest AI advancements.

In this context, and without fully knowing whether there was a hidden intention to delay to allow time for his project to advance, he published an alarmist open letter (co-signed by several personalities) calling for a “pause” in the development of advanced AI models like ChatGPT.

Because behind the scenes, as we understand from the presentation of Grok AI, Elon Musk did not apply his own advice. Here’s what we know about this new AI presented as comparable to ChatGPT and Google Bard.

Questions and Answers about Grok

When and at what price will Grok be available?

Grok is currently in a closed beta phase and can only be tested by a limited number of internet users in the United States. However, you can try following this link to sign up for the waiting list. A verified 𝕏 account is required.

For now, neither xAI nor Elon Musk provide a precise schedule for the deployment of the final version of Grok. It is known that Grok will be integrated into 𝕏 (formerly Twitter), and its access will be limited to X Premium subscribers.

X Premium subscriptions are available from $8 per month or $84 per year. Additionally, Grok could also find its way into Teslas.

What is Grok AI, and where does this strange name come from?

Grok AI is the first artificial intelligence presented by xAI, an AI-dedicated startup (and under the total control of Elon Musk) created on March 7, 2023.

This AI takes the form of a chatbot comparable to ChatGPT and Bard. It can answer all the most trivial questions, serve as an assistant for coding, or for generating text.

According to Elon Musk, the intention was to create an AI that is not “made by Big Tech” (a surprising statement coming from the owner of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and 𝕏…).

He explains that Big Tech does not care enough about regulating AI to prevent its misuses. However, another paradox is noted, as according to xAI’s job listings, the entrepreneur has shopped at OpenAI, Microsoft, Deepmind, and Google (in other words… the big Big Tech!).

The name “Grok” is derived from a science fiction novel

The term “Grok” may seem completely invented – yet it’s a reference to science fiction that has made its way into the English language since the 1960s, at least in the jargon of computer sciences.

Originally, Grok is from the novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. The term is presented as coming from the Martian language – and is described as “untranslatable” into English.

The writer specifies, however, that it can mean both “water” and the action of “drinking,” to be “in relation with,” “to relate to,” or even “life” or the verb “to live.”

According to other definitions, “to grok” means to understand something intuitively or empathetically, to the point of merging with this understanding or experience very deeply.

References to the term can be found in many open-source computer programs developed since the 1970s. For example, on the web page of cURL, an old tool for transferring data from a terminal window, you can read this phrase: “cURL groks URLs”.

In this sense, the most common meaning of the verb “to grok” is to load a maximum of data into memory to process it immediately. Hence, we understand quite well why this very nerdy term was chosen to define Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence.

What makes Grok different from other AIs?

Grok is designed to answer questions with humor and a rebellious spirit. So please don’t use it if you hate humor, adds Elon Musk in a tweet.

Grok responds with humor where ChatGPT and Bard quite coldly evade. Grok’s competitive advantage over other advanced AIs on the market is that it uses real-time tweets published on 𝕏 to formulate its responses. This gives it, according to the entrepreneur, “real-time knowledge of the world.”

Is Grok really as effective as ChatGPT?

It’s impossible to say at the moment, as we currently lack independent access to the model and are thus unable to judge its effectiveness other than by relying on the tweets of the CEO of xAI (who has the liberty to choose the best examples).

Its access to 𝕏’s tweets may be a plus, but it should be noted that ChatGPT (model 4) offers real-time access to Bing to formulate its responses. Similarly, Bing Chat (also based on GPT-4) has access to web results.

However, despite this access, the accuracy of data pulled from web results is not always perfect, and the same could be true for Grok. We will have to wait for the beta testers’ feedback to get a more accurate idea of its performance.

Conclusion

At first glance, Grok AI seems to be a fascinating project, promising to shake up the AI landscape. However, we will have to wait and see if this project can indeed measure up to the latest advancements in AI technology.”

Links

• xAI Grok – xAI
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein – Amazon
• Sell pre-owned electronic device online – iGotOffer