One of the biggest moves that Elon Musk, relatively new owner of X, formerly Twitter, did to the platform was locking (and subsequently charging) for API access to the platform. Part of the reasoning behind this is the claim that generative AI developers are scraping data off of it, without paying for all of the information. So perhaps an ironic turn of events is only inevitable as Grok, the chatbot by Musk’s generative AI company xAI, gets added to similarly lettered social media platform.
In a post on the platform, xAI says that Grok is “modeled after The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, which supposedly means a few things. One is that it is “intended to answer almost anything” as well as “even suggest what questions to ask”. It is also described as having “a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humour”. As to the flavour of humour that the chatbot is capable of, well, you be the judge.
Just released Grokhttps://t.co/e8xQp5xInk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2023
Another advantage that the people behind Grok tout over other generative AI options is the ability for it to have “real-time access to info via the X platform”. The irony behind this claim should not need explaining. Going a step further, the AI is also claimed to be able to answer “spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI platforms”, which can easily turn south really fast.
Announcing Grok!
Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask!
Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use…
— xAI (@xai) November 5, 2023
For better or worse, access to Grok will only be available to those who are subscribed to X Premium Plus, the higher premium tier recently introduced that also removes ads for subscribers. This can be seen as an added way to either add value to the tier, or entice people to upgrade.
