By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 26th, 2024
Currently, Grok is the sole product offered by xAI. However, the company has ambitious plans to expand its product line and compete with industry giants like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Days after Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for alleged violations of a business agreement, he announced on X that xAI will be open-sourcing its chatbot Grok.
The billionaire entrepreneur said on X (formerly Twitter) that Grok will be open-sourced later this week, giving software developers an opportunity to explore and experiment with the code used in the development of the chatbot.
This week, @xAI will open source Grok
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2024
xAI’s Grok: A Tool for Knowledge and Humanity
Grok, xAI’s innovative chatbot, was released in November last year as part of the company’s commitment to developing AI tools that benefit humanity and aid in the pursuit of knowledge.
The xAI team described the chatbot in a blog post as a technology inspired by the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, designed to provide answers to any questions. The tool is accessible to users for a $16 monthly subscription.
Currently, Grok is the sole product offered by xAI. However, the company has ambitious plans to expand its product line and compete with industry giants like OpenAI and Anthropic which are already making waves in the artificial intelligence sector.
To fuel this expansion, xAI filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year to raise $1 billion through private sales, intending to sell approximately $865.3 million worth of shares to investors.
In January, Bloomberg reported that xAI had secured half of the $1 billion from investors through fundraising. However, Musk denied the report, dismissing it as false and misleading.
Musk Declares Support for Open-source Codes
Musk founded xAI while seeking alternatives for OpenAI and Google. The billionaire entrepreneur aims to create responsible AI products for humanity and he supports the idea of an open-source system.
The Tesla and Spacex CEO declared his commitment for an open-source AI during a podcast episode with computer scientist and podcaster Lex Fridman in November 2023.
He also revealed that OpenAI was originally intended to be a non-profit open-source company, but it has evolved into a profit-oriented entity through its partnerships with Amazon and Microsoft.
“The name, the open in open AI, is supposed to mean open source, and it was created as a nonprofit open source. And now it is a closed source for maximum profit,” Musk had said.
Musk also cited this same reason in his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman earlier this month. He claimed in the suit that the firm departed from its original mission of being a non-profit venture after launching a business arm in 2020. He also promised to withdraw the lawsuit if OpenAI will go back to its original principles.