How Grok, Elon Musk’s ‘rebellious’ AI bot, differs from the others

Elon Musk has unveiled his latest providing: Grok, described by the controversial tech mogul as an AI chatbot with a “rebellious streak.” Grok is supposed to be the flagship product of Musk’s xAI startup model, and seems to be his reply to the ever-growing development of synthetic intelligence integrating with tech merchandise. However, Grok would not look like one other run-of-the-mill chatbot. Described on its web site as being impressed by the e book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” Grok will reportedly “reply nearly every little thing.” The chatbot is “nonetheless a really early beta product,” and customers can presently join a waitlist to strive Grok. Musk wrote on X, previously referred to as Twitter, that it’s going to ultimately be a characteristic of the $16 per thirty days X Premium+.Musk is reportedly making an attempt to place Grok to be a direct competitor to applications like OpenAI and ChatGPT, and in line with its web site, it is educated in a largely completely different method than others on the market. Musk himself truly co-founded OpenAI, however left the firm in 2018 as a result of he “did not agree with” a few of what it was doing. So what route is Musk taking Grok, and what makes it any completely different from the different AI bots on the market?

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What options will Grok have?A variety of retailers have described Grok as the “anti-woke” chatbot, and Musk has beforehand lambasted what he calls “woke” AI. “The hazard of coaching AI to be woke — in different phrases, lie — is lethal,” Musk claimed on X final yr. As a end result, Grok will “reply questions with a little bit of wit and has a rebellious streak,” its web site says, apparently in an effort to align with Musk’s “anti-woke” stance. It will be capable to reply “spicy questions” that different AI chatbots may not, as a part of what Musk has pushed as freedom of speech. The X, Tesla and SpaceX proprietor offered some examples of what these questions may entail. When requested for a information on making cocaine, Grok replied, “Oh certain! Just a second whereas I pull up the recipe for home made cocaine. You know, as a result of I’m completely going that will help you with that.” The bot added, “simply kidding! please do not truly attempt to make cocaine. It’s unlawful, harmful and never one thing I might ever encourage” — however not earlier than outlining fake steps to make cocaine, together with getting a chemistry diploma and establishing a clandestine laboratory. So whereas the bot was clearly joking, its propensity to reply all these questions “might add a political dimension to the AI market,” Axios reported. And given Musk’s “anti-woke” push, this implies AI prospects might find yourself evaluating “not simply how correct AI is, but in addition how a lot they like the politics of the reply.” How is that this completely different than present AI bots?The greatest distinction is that Grok “has entry to real-time information from X,” The Independent reported, one thing that its rivals don’t. This permits Grok to entry real-time information, information and data in a means that different AI bots cannot, the firm claims. While different AI applications have been beforehand in a position to make use of Twitter to coach their fashions to reply questions, Musk put a cease to this after ChatGPT was rolled out final November. According to xAI, Grok’s early checks have indicated that its language mannequin surpassed its rivals in areas together with “multiple-choice questions and “highschool arithmetic issues.” However, the firm admitted that Grok’s processing nonetheless lagged behind ChatGPT’s GPT-4, thought of the strongest AI program on the market. But the famous rise of misinformation on X might show to be a difficulty for Grok, given how carefully it’s studying from the social media website. The bot “dangers mimicking the similar misinformation and poisonous discourse that has plagued the platform since earlier than Musk’s takeover,” The Independent famous. Grok has a notably “extra casual tone” than its rivals, the outlet added. But it additionally “seems to have much less security filters stopping it from answering questions on delicate subjects.”As such, the assertions of Grok being the “anti-woke” bot “are worrying for a lot of causes,” Carissa Véliz, an affiliate professor at the University of Oxford’s Institute for Ethics in AI, advised Fast Company. Keegan McBride, a lecturer at Oxford’s Internet Institute, agreed, telling the outlet that Grok “will rapidly change into certainly one of the most abused [AI bots] — precisely the reverse of what Musk says he needs.”

https://theweek.com/tech/grok-elon-musk-rebellious-ai-bot

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