Elon Musk's AI startup xAI is Open source GrokHe said this week that the company's chatbot is comparable to ChatGPT, days after suing OpenAI and accusing the Microsoft-backed startup of straying from its open source roots.
xAI released Grok last year with features such as access to “real-time” information. This service is available to customers who pay a $16 monthly subscription to X.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI as a rival to Google. But OpenAI, which was also required to make its technology “freely available” to the public, has been closed-sourced and has shifted its focus to maximizing profits for Microsoft, Musk said late last month. This was argued in a lawsuit filed. (Read his OpenAI response here.)
The case also sparked a debate among many technologists and investors about the merits of open source AI. Vinod Khosla, whose company was one of OpenAI's earliest backers, called the lawsuit “a significant departure from the goal of realizing AGI and its benefits.”
Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen responded to Khosla's tweet, accusing him of “lobbying to ban open source” AI research. “Every important new technology that promotes human well-being is greeted with excited moral panic,” he added. “This is just the latest.”
and @pmarca Could you please open source the Manhattan Project? This is more serious for national security. We are in a techno-economic war with China and AI, and we must win this one. This is patriotism, not a slogan. https://t.co/AN18VmgVdk
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) March 2, 2024
It would certainly be easy for state actors to steal IP.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2024
The promise to open source Grok soon means xAI joins a growing list of companies, including Meta and French startup Mistral, that are making their chatbot code available to the public.
Musk has long been a supporter of open source. His other company, Tesla, has open sourced many of its patents. “Tesla has no intention of filing patent lawsuits against anyone who wants to use our technology in good faith,” Musk said in 2014. Company X, formerly known as Twitter, also open sourced part of its algorithm last year.