There's a ton going on in the AI space, but if it's associated with meme lord Elon Musk, we naturally pay attention. The billionaire's Artificial Intelligence startup xAI has just officially launched its large language model into the wild wild web.
Grok was unleashed in chatbot form last year, only accessible with a Premium+ subscription on X (formerly Twitter, as you already know yet we somehow still feel obliged to mention). Now, it's available on GitHub under Apache License 2.0. Which allows commercial use, modification and distribution; albeit without liability or warranty.
Developers, researchers, maybe enthusiasts with enough Internet knowledge and a supercomputer can build on Grok-1 and directly impact how the xAI updates future versions of the model. Base model weights and network architecture have been released, but without its training code. Which simply implies users can't see what Grok learnt from ...but to say it's text data from X wouldn't be too much of a stretch.
Created by the team involved in molding OpenAI's ChatGPT (more on that later), one thing Grok had going was access to real-time data on X. While that's live information, it is also a source highly susceptible to inaccuracy.
Grok-1 is currently "not fine-tuned for specific application such as dialogue". Yet, it's modeled after Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as a cheeky alternative to relatively serious rival models from OpenAI (GPT-4), Meta (LlLaMa 2), Google (Gemini, Gemma2B/7B) and others.
Grok has two modes you can toggle—'fun' and 'regular'. No points for guessing which is default. If that wasn't enough to drive the point home, its site spells out that "Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor!"
And if you're wondering how Musk never fails to come up with alien-sounding names and what Grok means, we can answer the latter. It's slang for intuitive understanding, or establishing rapport.
Musk's stance on open sourcing AI is something he has been very verbal about. The most notable company he criticised being OpenAI; which the businessman initially helped fund and previously co-found, but eventually sued for breaching an agreement about keeping it non-profit. The proprietor subsequently revealed emails claiming that Musk was well aware of the plans and was more about wanting it folded into Tesla.
ANYWAY. Making generative AI tools free-for-all in the name of democracy has always been iffy waters. There's always the risk of abuse in the hands of unpredictable, fallible human beings. With fake news already its own monster, Gen AI sometimes feels like the steroids to its hulking mass.
All things considered, it's definitely a buzz-worthy announcement about exciting tech. But as the safest way any common folk can conclude about the consequences—only time will tell.
It's been four years but I don't think anyone can forget how the Tesla Cybertruck had its windows smashed during its concept reveal. Twice. It was a glorious moment for the Meme-ternet. Complete with the perfect quote, "Oh my f—ing God, well. Maybe that was a little too hard."
Fast forward to last Thursday; where the same man, Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen, repeats the throw, albeit with visibly less gusto and a much softer weapon of choice. Surprise, surprise. Unlike in 2019, the window prevailed.
So why does the vehicle, produced two years behind schedule and at almost double the initial projected price, have its performance as the main source of scrutiny? Why, with a body like that, a face like that, would how it maneuvers the road become the fixation of its creation?
One could argue it's precisely because of the price point. The top-shelf of the three announced models (Cyberbeast) goes at est. USD 99,990. The lowest rear-wheel drive variant is only available in 2025, which could only mean prices are liable to inflate. So it's fair to want to know if function matches form.
We won't get into the full specs of the plug-powered wagon when all that information can easily be found on its main site. One highlighted aspect—miles per charge (since we're talking about an American vehicle currently only available in the US)—is not exactly outdoing the market competition at 250 for the base model.
Though it supposedly excelled at well, being a truck. Being pelted by bullets. It was also cool to see the (strategically shot) premium model beating a Porsche 911 while towing another Porsche 911.
Early reviewers have also praised its smooth drive, thanks to the variable steering ratio. Basically, with features like the same turning radius as a Model S at low speed while being comparably much larger; virtually allowing big turns in one hand movement, the truck handles more like a sedan.
But c'mon. With fancy interface graphics, minimalistic touch-screen operations, toggles like "cheetah mode", can we all admit acquiring the Tesla Cybertruck or anything in its vein is obviously like scoring the latest hype collaboration—more about how it looks on you.
When a vehicle looks like the dream car of a man child if he had the money and resources to construct it (oh wait), it's safe to say buyers are not making the purchase because they need it for practical reasons. One tagline even says "Built for ANY PLANET", as opposed to "terrain". Very on-brand for the Mars-obsessed SpaceX founder, who has mentioned Blade Runner when discussing the truck's distinct appearance.
Equipped with clean aesthetics and sleek user experience, it's akin to what Apple did with phones and computers: Change the game when you show that good design is not a pipe dream. That it is possible to fashion a truck in the image of a Bond car (the submarine-esque Lotus Esprit), an iconic luxury automobile (Lamborghini Countach), and—dare we believe—a stealth aircraft (Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk).
If the engineering team had to live through the massive headache that is to mold notoriously difficult stainless steel into a viable exoskeleton amongst many other challenges, should consumers' biggest concern really be how it moves?
We're talking about a company that turned a public embarrassment into a means for profit. Yes, Tesla sold decals of its broken-glass window, specially designed to fit the truck's odd window dimensions (major plus points if the stickers were accurate to 2019's greatest hits, pun intended).
Perhaps it's because we're not the ones forking out all that cash. We can afford to be a bit more blasé about the capabilities as a spectator. But let's be real on what a vehicle like this—and should any ever come to own one—really exists for: Being a damn statement.
