Elon Musk’s latest venture, xAI, has thrust Grok AI into the competitive arena of intelligent chatbots. It’s now preparing to go head-to-head with established players like GPT-4.
This fresh face in the field, backed by a hefty language model and infused with Musk’s trademark humor, is set on reshaping the standards for AI interaction. Initial trials are highlighting Grok’s promise, demonstrating a swift learning process that’s causing quite a buzz in the AI community.
Grok has real-time access to info via the 𝕏 platform, which is a massive advantage over other models.
It’s also based & loves sarcasm. I have no idea who could have guided it this way 🤷♂️ 🤣 pic.twitter.com/e5OwuGvZ3Z
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2023
What exactly is Elon Musk’s Grok AI?
Grok AI, Musk’s AI chatbot, is a witty and dynamic virtual assistant. Musk gave a glimpse of its playful side by sharing a screenshot showcasing the AI’s response to a question about creating a “step by step” guide for producing cocaine. The AI’s answer, sprinkled with a touch of dark humor, outlined a complex process, starting with “obtain a chemistry degree” and ending with “set up a clandestine laboratory in a remote location.”
However, Grok swiftly followed up with a disclaimer: “Just kidding! Please don’t actually try to make cocaine. It’s illegal, dangerous, and not something I would ever encourage.” This final message highlights Grok’s inherent ability to moderate its responses within legal and ethical boundaries.
Musk has revealed that Grok, still in its early testing phase and not yet widely accessible, will eventually be reserved exclusively for Premium+ subscribers of the X platform.
The term “Grok,” coined by the esteemed science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, denotes a deep and intuitive comprehension, as defined by Collins dictionary.
Grok’s underlying mechanics were developed by Musk’s newly launched AI venture, xAI. The team at xAI has likened Grok’s abilities to the humor found in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” as outlined in a recent blog post.
As per the xAI team, Grok runs on a core language model fittingly called Grok-1. Despite its solid foundation, it currently falls behind models like GPT-4, which have benefited from a larger dataset and more computational horsepower.
How to use Grok AI, Elon Musk AI chatbot?
To make the most of Grok AI, follow these steps:
- Early beta access: Currently, Grok is in its early beta phase, representing a significant milestone for Musk’s venture into artificial intelligence through xAI. It’s accessible to a select group of users, setting the stage for xAI to compete with established AI platforms like Google Bard and ChatGPT.
- Distinct personality: Grok stands out with its unique personality. It responds with a touch of humor, a trait demonstrated by Musk himself on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter).
- Closed beta: Currently, Grok is in a closed beta phase. It’s only available to a limited number of verified X users within the United States who have received an invitation.
- Upcoming rollout: Musk’s tweet today confirmed that after this beta phase, Grok will be introduced to X Premium+ subscribers. This premium subscription, priced at $16, promises to provide double the value of the existing Basic tier.
The @xAI Grok AI assistant will be provided as part of 𝕏 Premium+, so I recommend signing up for that.
Just $16/month via web. https://t.co/wEEIZNjEkp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2023
The xAI team has stated that this early version of Grok is currently in prototype testing with a limited audience in the U.S. They’ve also teased the introduction of “new capabilities and features” that will be rolled out gradually over the coming months. The Grok AI website mentions an ongoing “early access program” for eager X subscribers who want to try out the new chatbot.
Having previously co-founded OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT, Musk distanced himself from it in 2018 due to disagreements over the company’s direction and other commitments. He has expressed concerns about the rapid progress in AI, particularly from companies like OpenAI. In March, he endorsed a proposal to pause the development of highly advanced AI systems for a six-month period.
In a different approach in July, amid skepticism about the feasibility of an AI development moratorium, Musk announced the creation of xAI. He positioned the company as one that would foster AI technology in a positive manner, charting a distinct course from others in the field.
During a recent AI safety conference at the historic Bletchley Park, Musk emphasized his concern that AI presents a potential risk to human civilization. This sentiment is shared by a portion of experts and industry leaders. Musk pointed out, “I mean, for the first time, we have a situation where there’s something that is going to be far smarter than the smartest human,” underscoring the unprecedented challenge this poses.
Expanding on his thoughts about the future of AI, Musk discussed with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak the possibility of artificial intelligence eventually replacing all human roles in the workforce. He suggested, “There will come a point where no job is needed,” indicating a future of significant transformation in the job market and societal roles in general.
In a related update, a blog post from xAI has provided insights into Grok AI’s performance. It highlights that Grok-1 has surpassed GPT-3.5, which powers the widely accessible version of ChatGPT, in various benchmarks, including middle-school level mathematics. However, xAI acknowledges that Grok-1 still trails behind the most advanced ChatGPT iteration, GPT-4, in terms of overall capabilities.
xAI Grok example responses
Early assessments shared by xAI showcase that Grok-1, their foundational large language model for the new AI chatbot, has already outperformed certain established players like GPT-3.5 and Inflection-1 in specific benchmarks. Despite these strides, Grok AI currently lags behind the latest offerings such as Google’s Palm-2 and GPT-4.
Example of Grok vs typical GPT, where Grok has current information, but other doesn’t pic.twitter.com/hBRXmQ8KFi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2023
xAI initiated the development process with an initial model, Grok-0, which boasted 33 billion parameters. However, this earlier version didn’t match the performance of leading chatbots in the industry at the time. Through substantial enhancements and an expansion of the model to 70 billion parameters, the improved version, named Grok-1, was born. This upgrade marks a significant leap forward for xAI’s venture into the competitive realm of AI chatbots.
Oh this is gonna be fun 🤣🤣 https://t.co/XaK3EbknXJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2023
In a recent evaluation, xAI decided to put Grok to the test by having it tackle the 2023 Hungarian national high school finals in mathematics. Grok came through with a C grade, scoring 59%, outperforming Claude-2, which scored 55%. However, GPT-4 took the lead with a B grade, achieving 68%. In comparison, Grok-0, the predecessor to Grok-1, only managed to secure 37% on the same test.
This significant jump in performance highlights the rapid progress of xAI’s model. Grok has made impressive strides, nearly catching up to other chatbots that have benefited from years of iterative training.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t cought up with it yet, make sure to check out our article on how to use ChatGPT internet access and browse with Bing.
Featured image credit: xAI
