The world has witnessed several AI chatbots since the latter half of 2022, leading to global competition and rivalries in the tech market. However, most chatbots in the public domain come with a set of rather strict guidelines that allow them to avoid dubious topics and answer potentially harmful questions. Moreover, these guardrails also allow developers to track the performance of the AI and prevent any malicious or biased responses from the chatbot. Regardless, there has also been a growing demand for uncensored chatbots and AI protocols under the banner of freedom of speech. This has gained traction, leading to several chatbots being produced that bear no hard guardrails and are more than willing to provide uncensored responses to users. One of these is Grok, a potent AI chatbot created by xAI. Elon Musk, the tech tycoon, founded the company after observing the rise in popularity of artificial intelligence and the dissatisfaction of many users who wanted an unrestricted AI chatbot experience.
While Musk was at the forefront of demanding a pause in AI development earlier in 2023, the billionaire’s newly launched AI firm seems to be competing with ChatGPT—a rival that commits strictly to guardrails and censors that prevent the chatbot from responding with problematic statements. Touted to be an AI tool that handles even controversial topics and prompts, Grok is also an uncensored platform, allowing for humorous and fascinating conversations—something its current users seem to have a liking for. The upcoming sections will take a closer look at Grok and see if it really squares up sufficiently to be called a ChatGPT rival.
Grok AI: An Overview of the Unrestricted Chatbot
Grok is currently hosted on the popular social media platform X.
Grok AI is a fascinating chatbot built on a protocol that trained the model for barely two months. Despite its short training period, Grok seems to have fared rather well, potentially outclassing GPT-3.5, which is a model that still powers the free tier of ChatGPT. xAI developed an integrated platform using machine learning tools like JAX and programming languages like Rust, along with the automated orchestration platform Kubernetes. Based on the company’s claims, Grok is modeled to eventually create capable AI assistants that can provide humans with ideas and information. Interestingly, the premise of Grok is based on the popular book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Grok has also been modeled around Elon Musk’s personality, looking to emulate the responses and reactions of the famed businessman.
Grok AI often provides humorous and sarcastic replies to questions from users and looks to make people’s interactions with artificial intelligence more interesting than the average AI assistant. Unlike the placid and almost-monotonous generic chatbots, Grok has what the company calls a bit of a “rebellious streak.” Initially, Grok was available only to users based in the United States and underwent several testing phases. Hosted on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, Grok was made available to Premium+ subscribers. Eventually, Grok’s release was broadened and included over 47 other countries, including Brazil, India, Australia, and Canada. In these nations, too, Grok access is limited to Premium+ subscribers on X. Pricing for the subscription is pegged at $16 a month. There also exist lower-priced tiers on X; however, they do not entail access to Grok.
The Technical Aspects of xAI’s Chatbot
Grok AI is the first step in several other projects planned by xAI.
Grok AI functions on a language model called Grok-1, which was trained on an extensive dataset that includes large volumes of text and code. The LLM was modeled on the nuances of human language, allowing it to understand the subtleties of sarcasm, humor, slang, and other aspects of contextual input. Grok-1 also trained on a dataset that drew information from periods as recent as the third quarter of 2023, in addition to human feedback and assistance. The underlying natural language processing protocol is constantly able to learn through human feedback. In addition, Grok also remains connected to the external world via X. However, this could be touted as problematic since the platform contains a vast trove of personal information in addition to potentially biased and misleading opinions that the chatbot might be using for its training purposes.
Interestingly, Grok outperformed GPT-3.5 and Inflection 1 on key benchmarks such as Massive Multitask Language Understanding (MMLU) and GSM8k, among others. This is impressive for a model that underwent training only for a couple of months. It is, however, outdone by larger LLMs such as GPT-4 and PaLM-2, which have more resources at their disposal alongside larger datasets to back their operations. Though modeled to be satirical and humorous, xAI does have broader ambitions for Grok and intends to make it the first step toward a mutually beneficial artificial general intelligence that can help humans better comprehend the mysteries of the universe. The language model, while trained on extensive data, is not explicitly instructed on how to respond to prompts—based on Musk’s definition of the chatbot—and will instead have a “mind” of its own. Despite the open approach to its development, there still remain several concerns surrounding AI safety, risks, and other factors such as hallucinations.
The Prospects for Grok AI: Will It Truly Become a ChatGPT Alternative?
xAI provides users with humorous and amusing AI interactions.
Since Grok is positioned as a challenger to OpenAI’s GPT models, the chief offering from xAI is bound to be progressively developed to greater degrees. Grok 1, too, is a successor to the Grok 0 prototype model, which was trained on up to 33 billion parameters. While the world remains fixated on responsible AI, there exists a countercurrent that wants unrestricted interactions with AI tools free of censors and guardrails. Though this presents unique challenges and risks, the freedom to express oneself and expect unshielded responses from an AI companion ranks highly among several users’ interests and priorities. Alongside information, Grok also brings a fun twist to artificial intelligence, which is bound to make the chatbot popular. Regardless, present access being restricted only to paid users might limit the extent of its reach, unlike larger chatbots such as Bard and ChatGPT, which are accessible to a vast number of free users.
FAQs
1. Is Grok AI free?
No, Grok AI is not free and is included with the Premium+ subscription on the X platform priced at $16 per month.
2. Is Grok better than ChatGPT?
Grok performed better on key benchmarks such as MMLU and GSM8k when compared to GPT-3.5. However, larger OpenAI models like GPT-4 are still better than Grok’s current version.
3. Who owns Grok AI?
Grok AI is owned by xAI, a firm launched and owned by tech baron Elon Musk. The firm was launched in the aftermath of global AI popularity, where AI beneficial to humanity will be built.