Elon Musk has announced the release of his new artificial intelligence tool that will compete with ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. Launched in July 2023, Grok was designed to “assist humanity in its quest for understanding and knowledge.”
The term Grok comes from science fiction franchise The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Grok, according to Collins dictionary, means to “understand thoroughly and intuitively.”
Grok was built by xAI, Musk’s new AI company, created in 2018 and designed to answer almost every question a user can think of.
Unlike its competitors, Grok was programmed to have a sense of humor and a “rebellious streak.” Musk reported that his AI tool will answer questions using “wit” and that if the user does not have a sense of humor, it is not the tool for them.
xAI’s Grok system is designed to have a little humor in its responses pic.twitter.com/WqXxlwI6ef
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2023
Grok can even do self-deprecating, as all my favorite people can
And apparently you can't get rid of it even if you try pic.twitter.com/rPToLNRw6S
— Dan (@KettlebellLife) November 7, 2023
The AI tool is reported to also have access to X users’ accounts, able to leave humorous comments on tweets.
Musk insists that he designed Grok to be “a force for good.” This statement comes after Musk previously stated that he believed that AI is a dangerous tool and saw it as a “threat to humanity.”
“AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production,” Musk told Tucker Carlson earlier this year.
While some skeptics believe that AI has the potential to eventually destroy humanity, Musk insists that xAI is taking every precaution to ensure that Grok will not be used for evil purposes.
“We believe that AI holds immense potential for contributing significant scientific and economic value to society, said Musk, “so we will work towards developing reliable safeguards against catastrophic forms of malicious use.”
So far, Grok has only undergone two months of training. Musk predicts that with the intelligence and ability to perform any task, that AI will eventually eliminate the need for anyone to have a job.
Grok will be available for early access to all X Premium Plus subscribers at $16 per month.
