March 29th – X, the social networking service owned by Elon Musk, has introduced a new conversational AI-based chatbot, known as Grok. In contrast with mild-mannered and neutral-tone chatbots like ChatGPT or Microsoft AI Copilot, Grok exhibits a more unconventional demeanor.
Its responses are often delivered in a candid and informal style, occasionally employing extremely colloquial language. For example, if a user types in ‘When should I celebrate Christmas?,’ the reply is ‘Whenever the hell you want’.
Selling proposition
Grok’s unique selling proposition lies in its ability to access and leverage real-time data from X, a capability that’s not available to other chatbots. This feature allows Grok to provide more up-to-date information on current events and trending topics as compared to chatbots with static knowledge bases.
Grok’s data set
The underlying model, Grok-1 was trained on a vast dataset comprised of web content up to Q3 2023 and feedback from human “AI tutors.” According to xAI’s benchmarks, Grok-1 demonstrates comparable capabilities to Meta’s open-source Llama 2 chatbot model and surpasses OpenAI’s GPT-3.5.
Like other language models, Grok employs reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to fine-tune its outputs. However, this technique is not flawless and Grok may occasionally generate false or inaccurate information.
For example, when asked about the resolution of the current Hamas-Israel conflict, it said that the two groups had reached a cease-fire (when in fact they haven’t).
Musk’s plans
Elon Musk intends to release an upgraded version later this year. To access Grok, users must have an X account and subscribe to the X Premium+ plan, which currently costs $16 per month, or $168 per year.
Regarding its political leanings, while Musk has described Grok as a “maximum-truth-seeking AI,” independent researchers have observed that Grok’s responses tend to align with progressive and libertarian viewpoints.
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