xAI, the company founded by Elon Musk, is set to launch its first offering, ‘Grok,’ this week in a bid to challenge OpenAI and other startups in the AI space. Grok, an AI chatbot, will be integrated into the X platform (formerly Twitter) as part of an early access program.
According to Musk, the AI chatbot will be available exclusively to users on the most expensive paid plan of the social networking platform. Users on other plans or using X for free will not have access for now. This move aims to challenge the dominance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has been the go-to general-purpose AI assistant for almost a year.
Grok: A Competitor to ChatGPT
Grok is expected to engage in back-and-forth conversations with users, handling various queries from mathematical problems to code challenges. What sets Grok apart is its exclusive access to X and its real-time, user-generated posts and information.
The AI assistant has been trained on billions of posts (formerly known as tweets) on X and has access to the most recent data posted on the platform. This enables Grok to provide up-to-date information on current issues. Toby Pohlen, a founding member of xAI from Google DeepMind, explains that Grok takes “a few seconds” to analyze information collected from multiple posts and provide a summary as the answer. However, ensuring misinformation doesn’t slip through the cracks remains a challenge.
Besides real-time data, Grok AI offers additional features such as a dedicated “fun” mode, multi-tasking, shareable chats, and feedback for conversations. The fun mode aims to give Grok a distinct personality, allowing more engaging conversations with a touch of sarcasm and humor. Users can also have multiple conversations with Grok in the same window, share these conversations through a link, and provide detailed feedback to xAI on the quality of their interactions.
For every feedback with an optimal response, users receive a “feedback score” from xAI, incentivizing valuable input. Interested users can sign up for the early access program on Grok’s dedicated website. However, only users with a verified profile and an X Premium Plus subscription will have initial access to the chatbot, priced at $16 USD per month.
The Future of Grok and xAI
Musk plans to introduce a dedicated Grok tab on X to facilitate easier interactions with the AI assistant. This move is expected to enhance user engagement on the platform. Although it is unclear when xAI will expand access beyond verified users, the acquisition of X for $44 billion in 2022 demonstrates Musk’s commitment to driving Grok mainstream.
Despite its rapid development, xAI continues to improve Grok’s system and responses. As time progresses, users can expect the chatbot to become more refined and efficient, leading to widespread availability in the coming months.
