xAI, Elon Musk’s new artificial intelligence (A.I.) company, has launched a chatbot called “Grok.”
A prototype version of the chatbot is now being trained on large language learning models and is only available to a select group of users in beta form.
xAI said it plans to eventually release Grok to a wider audience.
The company added that Grok is modeled on the book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” and is supposed to have “a rebellious streak” and answer the “spicy questions” that other A.I. chatbots might avoid.
In announcing the release of Grok, Musk posted a video on X of Grok responding to a request for a recipe to make the drug cocaine.
“Oh sure!” Grok responded. “Just a moment while I pull up the recipe for homemade cocaine. You know, because I’m totally going to help you with that.”
Grok also has access to data from X, formerly known as Twitter, which Musk said will give it a leg-up over competing chatbots.
Musk has said publicly that he is positioning xAI to compete directly with OpenAI and other A.I. companies that have also produced chatbots.
The public can now join a waitlist for a chance to use the Grok chatbot. The plan is for Grok to eventually be featured of X Premium+, which costs $16 U.S. per month, said xAI.
Grok refers to a term coined by Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 science fiction novel “Stranger in a Strange Land.” In the book, ‘Grok’ is a Martian term with no direct human translation.
Critics have debated the word’s definition but have settled on some version of empathy or intuition. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “to understand profoundly and intuitively.”
Musk launched xAI in July of this year with a team of former employees from OpenAI, Alphabet’s (GOOG/GOOGL) DeepMind, and other A.I. companies.
xAI is a privately held company. Its stock does not trade on a public exchange
