The Grok AI Model From X: What Does It Mean to the Market?

Elon Musk recently announced the introduction of an artificial intelligence (AI) product to compete with the OpenAI ChatGPT product suite. This product, named Grok, is currently available in beta version only, and is in limited release to a select number of users in the United States. 

As we await the full release of the Grok product, it may be worth considering its potential impact on the market and the features that Musk believes will distinguish Grok from its main competitor. 

Accessibility and Relevance

Grok will provide real-time AI capability via the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) so that the information gathered and delivered to users will be up-to-date, as opposed to the OpenAI free product, which draws data from books, web, and other sources to deliver its results and draw conclusions. 

Market Reach and Availability

Once the Grok product is released to the public, it will be available only to X premium subscribers. It is important to note that OpenAI offers a free version with a limited feature set and a premium subscriber version that includes real-time information. So, while Grok claims to offer a competitive advantage with its real-time approach, users must have an X account to enjoy the benefits of Grok, and they must pay a premium that is comparable to the real-time premium version of OpenAI that is currently available to the public.  

Engaging Technology

It is perhaps no surprise that Musk decided to give his AI model a bit of a personality. According to the developers, the product presents results and answers with a sense of humor, making it more enjoyable and fun for the user to engage with the AI.  

Training Models

The current Grok training model is based on 33 billion parameters, as compared to ChatGPT 3.5, with a 175 billion parameter training model, and GPT 4, with 1.76 trillion parameters. Recent tests of the Grok model provide impressive results as compared to other large language models (LLM), but we expect that the beta version will be changed before its release to the public, so there is currently no way to anticipate results. Current results do lag behind GPT-4 

Business Use Cases

Like OpenAI and other competitors, Grok’s primary use will be in language translation, data summarization, and responding to queries and questions. 

Because we do not yet have full access to the Grok product, it is difficult to judge its impact on the market. If its competitive stance is based on providing: a) an AI ‘personality’ that is funny and engaging and b) offering an AI product in real-time at a premium subscription cost to only X subscribers, it would seem a bit early to predict its impact on the public market, on businesses and on social media users.