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By Vlad Savov
Elon Musk revealed his own artificial intelligence bot to challenge ChatGPT, claiming the prototype is already superior to ChatGPT 3.5 across several benchmarks.
Dubbed Grok, it’s the first product of Musk’s xAI company and is now in testing with a limited group of US users. Grok is being developed with data from Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, and is thus better informed on the latest developments than alternative bots with static datasets, the company’s website said. It’s also designed to answer “with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak,” according to the announcement.
Earlier this year, Musk was among the signatories of a petition calling for a pause in advancing AI models in order to allow for the development of shared safety protocols.
“I signed that letter knowing it was futile,” the billionaire owner of X and Tesla Inc. chief executive officer posted on Sunday. “I just wanted to be on the record as recommending a pause.”
US President Joe Biden just signed an executive order for AI oversight, aimed at setting standards for security and privacy protections, while tech leaders and academics debated the technology’s risks at the UK’s AI Safety Summit last week.
Grok is the product of two months of development, the xAI announcement said, and will be made available to all X Premium+ users after it exits the testing stage. Musk has spoken of his ambition to build X beyond its base as a social platform into a do-everything app akin to Tencent Holding Ltd.’s WeChat in China. Grok would be an essential part of developing that — while xAI is a separate company, it says it intends to work closely with X, Tesla and other businesses.
