Elon Musk recently unveiled Grok, a new AI chatbot that is meant to directly rival ChatGPT and Bard. It’s being developed by xAI, Musk’s own AI startup that first launched in July of this year.
In this brief guide, we’ll be going over all of the major details known about the new AI tool, including how it compares to its competitors, how to access it, and more.
What is Grok?
Grok is the newest AI tool on the market. It is being developed by xAI, an AI startup founded and owned by Elon Musk. The AI is reportedly modeled after the 1979 novel by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. According to xAI, Grok is a more “rebellious” and sarcastic AI, with a “bit of wit.”
Grok is similar to ChatGPT.
The chatbot is similar to tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and Microsoft’s Copilot, with the biggest thing setting it apart being its sarcastic tone and wittiness. Unlike other chatbots, Grok will respond to more controversial questions that others simply refuse to answer.
How does Grok work?
Similar to other AI tools like ChatGPT, Grok is an AI chatbot that uses LLM (large language model) technology that trains the AI by feeding it a vast amount of information from all across the internet.
But unlike some other tools that are limited to information up to 2021 — like ChatGPT 3.5 — Grok utilizes the internet in order to have real-time access to the data it needs. Grok’s internet access should allow it to offer more up-to-date information.
The biggest concern here, however, is that Grok only has access to data from X (formerly known as Twitter) rather than the wider internet as a whole. This may not end up being a huge benefit, as a fair share of the information available on Twitter is inaccurate.
What can Grok do?
As an AI that uses an LLM (large language model), Grok can do many of the same things that ChatGPT and Bard are capable of, including answering simple questions, completing writing tasks, coming up with ideas, and much more.
As previously mentioned, the biggest selling point for Grok is its ability to give more humorous and witty answers. With more of a personality and sense of humor, Grok may prove to be a much more entertaining AI for users to interact with.
How does Grok compare to ChatGPT and other popular AI chatbots?
Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority
While reports say that Grok is just as capable and useful as both ChatGPT and Bard, that fact remains to be seen as we haven’t been able to get our hands on it yet to try it for ourselves. While the tool does have access to more up-to-date information than ChatGPT 3.5 thanks to having internet access, it likely doesn’t have the most accurate information.
X is notorious for featuring a fair amount of offensive and inaccurate content, so while some of the info that Grok will pull from it may be useful, a lot of it may not be.
How to access and use Grok
With Grok being owned by Elon Musk and available through X, you must have an X account in order to access it. Furthermore, with Grok currently in early access, the AI tool is limited to verified users for now. In order to be a verified user, subscribing to X Premium+ is required.
A Premium+ subscription costs $16 per month, or $168 for an annual subscription.
It is unclear if Grok will remain locked behind X’s Premium+ subscription or if it will become publicly available in the future.
FAQ
Grok is a term that was first coined by the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein. Heinlein is the author of classics such as Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Door into Summer. The word “grok” is defined as understanding something intuitively, or empathizing or communicating sympathetically. The AI tool Grok is said to be inspired by Douglas Adams’ comedic science-fiction book and radio show The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
xAI is the name of the American startup company which was founded by Elon Musk in March 2023.
Currently, xAI is still a startup and is not a publicly traded company.
While xAI, X, and Tesla all work closely together (and all have close ties to Elon Musk), they are separate companies from one another.