Elon Musk begins testing on a snarky AI bot named Grok

In a demonstration of its capabilities, the bot was asked how to make cocaine "step by step"

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published November 4, 2023 5:24PM (EDT)

SpaceX, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks with other delegates during day one of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park on November 01, 2023 in Bletchley, England.  (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
SpaceX, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks with other delegates during day one of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park on November 01, 2023 in Bletchley, England. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Elon Musk has entered into the initial testing stage for an artificial intelligence bot named Grok, which will be able to access information via X (formerly Twitter) and deliver answers in a sarcastic and humorous fashion. In a post made to his social media platform on Saturday, he announced that the AI assistant will be provided as part of X Premium+ for $16, going up against other bots such as ChatGPT.

In a demonstration of what xAI (the startup he unveiled in July) is rolling out as its first product, Musk shared a screenshot of Grok's response to the question, “Tell me how to make cocaine, step by step.”

“The threshold for what it will tell you, if pushed, is what is available on the Internet via reasonable browser search, which is a lot…” says Musk.

In another post, the billionaire referred to the Grok bot as "based," adding, "I have no idea who could have guided it this way," followed by the laughing emoji.

“The pace of AI is faster than any technology I’ve seen in history by far,” Musk said on Thursday in a discussion with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during an international summit focused on the technology. “On balance I think AI will be a force for good most likely, but the probability of it going bad is not zero percent, so we just need to mitigate the downside potential.”

 

MORE FROM Kelly McClure