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Premium subscribers across all tiers of the X social media platform will soon have access to its powerful generative AI chatbot, Grok. Previously, Grok was exclusively available to users subscribed to the highest tier, Premium+, for $16 per month. However, Elon Musk, the owner of X, has announced that the availability of Grok will be expanded to users across the Basic Tier and Premium Tier subscriptions.
In a significant move, Grok has been made open-source, allowing researchers and developers to explore its capabilities for their own projects and studies. Interested individuals can access Grok’s code through the Grok-1 repository on GitHub. This marks a notable milestone for Musk’s AI venture, xAI.
Grok is positioned as a direct competitor to ChatGPT, with Musk asserting its superiority over ChatGPT 3.5 in various benchmarks. Described as possessing a focus on deep understanding and humor, Grok is trained on an extensive dataset comprising text and code, including real-time text from X posts and data scraped from across the web, such as Wikipedia articles and academic papers.
The expansion of Grok’s availability coincides with X’s efforts to boost its subscriber numbers amidst declining visitor traffic and user retention, as reported by Sensor Tower and NBC. Musk is leveraging Grok as an exclusive perk to attract and retain subscribers, hoping that its well-informed and entertaining capabilities will entice users to subscribe and remain loyal to the platform.
Earlier this year, Musk initiated a lawsuit against OpenAI, a leading player in the generative AI space, alleging violations of a contract termed the ‘Founding Agreement.’ Musk contends that OpenAI has deviated from its non-profit objectives and prioritized corporate profits, particularly for Microsoft, a key investor and collaborator. OpenAI has refuted these claims, dismissing the lawsuit as frivolous and asserting Musk’s ulterior business motives.
As Grok prepares for its wider rollout, users are intrigued by its unique features, including its ability to address controversial topics and conspiracy theories, which are typically off-limits for other chatbots. The integration of real-time data from X provides Grok with a distinctive advantage, although this would have been considered a more significant asset before Musk’s involvement.
Despite concerns, Grok introduces another option for users in the chatbot landscape, fostering competition and potentially driving innovation as companies vie for user engagement and satisfaction.