Elon Musk, xAI Unveils Grok, ChatGPT Rival for Premium+ Users on X

Elon Musk announced on Thursday that his artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI is rolling out ChatGPT competitor Grok for Premium+ subscribers of social media platform X.

A Part Of X's 'Super App' Plans

The SpaceX exec announced it in a post on X, formerly Twitter, but provided no further specifics about the launch, per Reuters. He stated last month that Grok would be available to members as soon as it completed early beta testing.

As more advertisers abandon the microblogging site, the billionaire has emphasized the importance of minimizing the company's reliance on advertising, focusing on subscriptions, and making them more appealing.

He even plans to make X a "super app," providing its customers with services ranging from chat and social networking to peer-to-peer payments.

To recall, Musk founded xAI in July in reaction to Big Tech's artificial intelligence projects, which he has criticized for excessive censorship and a lack of proper safety safeguards.

Following the success of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, large tech giants such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Alphabet's Google are rushing to build AI-powered products. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but resigned from its board of directors in 2018.

What To Expect From Grok?

Toby Pohlen, a founding member of xAI who previously worked at Google Deepmind, admitted in November that the Grok chatbot now takes a few seconds to analyze and answer. According to VentureBeat, the team is aggressively improving the system's speed while addressing concerns about misinformation on the X platform.

Per Android Authority, Grok AI goes beyond real-time responses by incorporating a distinct "fun" mode, multi-tasking capabilities, chat sharing, and a feedback mechanism. The "fun" option promises to give Grok a different personality, enabling stimulating interactions with sarcasm and comedy.

Users will appreciate the ability to engage in many discussions with Grok simultaneously, share these talks externally via links, and provide specific feedback to xAI to allow continual improvement of the chatbot's skills.

xAI has created a Grok website urging users to sign up for the early access program. This move is consistent with a broader industry trend of incorporating emerging AI capabilities into social media platforms to provide consumers with innovative and interactive experiences.

The Grok Chatbot was created to increase platform user interaction. In 2022, Elon Musk paid $44 billion for X.

Meanwhile, X CEO Linda Yaccarino revealed Thursday that the software firm intends to hire engineers in Japan next year. According to a TechTimes story, Yaccarino indicated that the hiring initiative wants to form an app development team to develop functionality and sell items specific to the Japanese market.

Japan accounts for approximately 10% of the 550 million users on the social media network worldwide. X is pushing a smartphone "everything app," which includes short-text chats, AI-powered searches, video discussions, uploads, and payments.

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