- xAI’s Grok-2 chatbot, released on August 13, now available to X Premium users, boasts enhanced coding and math capabilities.
- Grok-2 includes image generation with fewer restrictions, allowing users to create politically themed images, but raises copyright concerns.
- Despite improvements, Grok-2 ranks third behind GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 and has faced legal issues related to user data and copyright.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has unveiled the latest version of its chatbot, Grok-2. Released on August 13, this new iteration is now available to paid X (formerly Twitter) users. Grok-2 builds on its predecessor, Grok 1.5, with enhancements. The update introduces two versions: Grok-2 and the less powerful Grok-2 mini. This release marks the third version of xAI’s chatbot since November 2023.
Enhancements and Performance
The new Grok-2 model boasts notable improvements over previous versions. According to the Large Model Systems Organization (LMSYS Org.), Grok-2 performs comparably to GPT-4o, particularly excelling in coding, math, and hardware prompts. Nevertheless, it falls behind GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 in overall AI capabilities, securing the third position in LMSYS Org.’s rankings.
Wharton professor Ethan Mollick also recognizes Grok-2’s advancements but emphasizes that no AI model has yet surpassed OpenAI’s GPT-4. Mollick noted, “There are now five GPT-4 class models: GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, Gemini 1.5, Llama 3.1, and now Grok 2. All labs acknowledge the potential for future improvements, but GPT-4 remains unmatched… so far.”
Controversies and Legal Challenges
Grok-2 offers an upgrade by including image generation capabilities. Compared to other AI image generators like Midjourney and DALL-E, Grok-2 imposes fewer restrictions on the images it can create. Users have already leveraged this feature to produce politically themed images. Elon Musk even showcased a generated portrait of George Washington on social media.
Currently, Grok-2 is available exclusively to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers. However, xAI plans to release its API to developers by the end of August. This move is expected to broaden Grok-2’s application and integration opportunities.
Despite these advancements, Grok-2 has sparked controversy. Users have exploited its image generation capabilities to create copyrighted images of brands and politicians, raising concerns about potential copyright violations. Additionally, xAI faces legal challenges from the European group NOYB, which is suing X for using user data without consent.
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