On March 11, 2024, Elon Musk disclosed that xAI would open-source the Grok chatbot against their rival OpenAI this week.
Key Takeaways
- Elon Musk aims to release the Grok AI chatbot as an open-source project.
- The shift occurs due to a bitter argument with ChatGPT’s owner, OpenAI.
- Premium X clients can already access generative AI via xAI.
- OpenAI’s response to Musk on the lawsuit.
The emergence of the Grok chatbot is a challenge to rival OpenAI, as Elon Musk announced to make it open-source.
It started when OpenAI CEO Altman claimed profit through technology, although the organization was founded as a non-profit company. Tesla CEO Musk also co-founded it in 2015. After leaving, Elon Musk filed a suit against OpenAI, a Microsoft-backed organization.
Once in the X (Twitter) comment section, Musk replied, “OpenAI is a lie.”
He also stated, “The name, open in OpenAI, is supposed to represent open-source, and it was founded as a nonprofit open-source. And now it’s a closed source for profits.
OpenAI Reaction on Musk LawSuit
On March 5, 2024, OpenAI discussed many subjects in their blog, including a series of emails.
OpenAI revealed emails between Musk and high-level company executives in which he supported the startup’s transition to a profit-generating enterprise. He also intended to join the EV manufacturer to create a “cash cow.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and other senior OpenAI executives wrote on their blog,
“We’re sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired — someone who inspired us to aim higher, then told us we would fail, started a competitor, and then sued us when we started making meaningful progress towards OpenAI’s mission without him.”
Also Read: MICROSOFT SAYS RUSSIAN HACKERS STOLE SOURCE CODE BY SPYING EXECUTIVE EMAILS
Further in their blog, they claimed that Elon knew the mission did not involve open-sourcing AGI. As Ilya informed Elon,
“As we get closer to building AI, it will make sense to become less open. The “open” in OpenAI suggests that everyone should profit from the rewards of AI when it is developed, but it’s perfectly fine not to disclose the science…,” to which Elon replied: “Yes.”
OpenAI and Musk have always been at odds, which has made quite interesting headlines.
In Dec 2023, Musk launched the Grok for premium subscribers of X, formerly known as Twitter.
Last year established xAI as a competition of OpenAI and Google, claiming it would be a “maximum truth-seeking AI.”
In a November Lex Fridman podcast, Musk expressed his preference for the concept of open-source AI.
After four months, Musk is back with the announcement of the release of Grok this week. It will be open-source, free for the public, and any human can benefit from it.