Billionaire Elon Musk has released a new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that he says was designed with a “rebellious streak” in mind.
The chatbot, known as “Grok,” is the brainchild of Musk’s new company xAI, and was inspired by the comedy science fiction franchise “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
In a blog post from xAI, users are told to avoid Grok “if you hate humor” given that it answers questions “with a bit of wit.”
Musk, who has made the chatbot available to select Premium+ subscribers on his social media platform X, showcased Grok’s humor by asking it how to make cocaine. The AI produced a comical response before telling users that it was merely joking.
Musk fans quickly jumped on its ability to describe how to cook drugs, comparing it to ChatGPT and other AIs, which often won’t answer questions about illicit activities.
Musk also noted that Grok is trained on posts from X, which has been inundated with misinformation and conspiracy theories since the billionaire took over last year.
X subscribers quickly began sharing screenshots of their responses from Grok, which touched upon a wide range of topics.
Right-wing Malaysian commentator Ian Miles Cheong marveled at Grok’s insinuation that deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was murdered.
Other X subscribers celebrated Grok as the key to defeating progressive politics.
“Grok is how we defeat the woke mind virus,” the user Sir Doge of the Coin said.
But many have criticized Musk given his repeated claims that AI is a danger, only to turn around and cash in on the technology himself.
Many argued that Grok was “cringe” and yet another desperate attempt by Musk to seem cool.
“Somebody has to say it: Grok (AI) is cringe AF,” another said. “Like, boomer cringe.”
Take, for instance, how Grok described sex as a “special hug called ‘baby-making'”
Nevertheless, the majority of posts regarding Grok appeared to be centered around the fact that the chatbot wasn’t “woke.”
“Grok says it like it is,” Cheong added. “I asked it where the woke obsession with pronouns came from, and, well, no lies detected.”
It remains unclear how long Grok will hold X users’ interest given its limited availability and design. AI Chatbots such as ChatGPT remain significantly more popular and capable.
