To Grok or to not Grok: Everything we know about Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot

In the one-ish year since Elon Musk took over Twitter, changing its name to X is one of the many intriguing things he has done. But perhaps the most ambitious of them is launching Grok, an AI assistant developed by Musk’s company xAI.

What is Grok?

Elon Musk’s plan for turning X (formerly Twitter) into a super app is no secret, and Grok is a big step in that direction. As announced by xAI, “Grok is an AI modelled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what question to ask!”

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Essentially, Grok is an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT and Google Bard. It can answer questions and generate creative text formats like poems, code, scripts, and letters. It has been designed to answer user queries, even the “spicy” ones its rivals tend to avoid.

What does the name 'Grok' mean?

While it may seem gibberish initially, we can’t dismiss it for just being that. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the word means “to understand something.”

A quick search on the internet shows that the word was coined by an American writer, Robert A. Heinlein, for his sci-fi novel Stranger in a Strange Land. In the context of the book, it is a Martian word that means “to drink”. However, its meaning has expanded to “understand something or someone completely – to merge, blend, and lose identity in a group experience.”

So, it is unsurprising that the sci-fi fanatic and Mars-obsessed Musk chose the name of xAI’s chatbot, hoping it absorbs as much information as possible from its interactions.

How is Grok different from other AIs?

When talking about Grok, Musk posted on X, “In some important respects, it is the best that currently exists.” The first glimpses shared by Grok users seem to indicate that the new AI is designed to have humour in its responses.

It is also based on and loves sarcasm. This touch of wit gives Grok a distinct personality, which has something missing from the other AI chatbots. But how does it fare against ChatGPT and Google Bard?

Grok vs ChatGPT

One of the significant advantages Grok has over the free version of ChatGPT is its access to real-time information. As the typical ChatGPT only covers information till January 2022, not only does it not know anything about Grok, but it is also blissfully unaware of Musk buying Twitter/X. 

Elon Musk posted a comparison between Grok and ChatGPT on X. However, as multiple users were quick to point out in replies, GPT4 with Bing, as well as ChatGPT Plus, have access to real-time information and answer questions correctly.

Grok vs Google Bard

Both Google Bard and xAI’s Grok have access to real-time information. However, Bard has an advantageous position thanks to its access to Google’s vast knowledge base. On the other hand, Grok has real-time data access through the X social media platform.

When we asked Bard to compare itself with Grok, this is what we got:

How to use Grok

Grok prototype is currently accessible only to select users in the United States. However, Musk has announced that it will soon be available for all X Premium+ subscribers (costing Rs 1,300 per month via web and Rs 2,150 per month via the smartphone app).

It will be interesting to see how Grok develops over the next few months and whether or not it provides an actual challenge to ChatGPT and Google Bard. If not an alternative to these chatbots, Gork will be a useful generative AI feature within X.