Elon Musk Announces This Week's Open Source Release of xAI's Grok

Elon Musk’s AI Startup xAI to Open Source Grok Chatbot This Week

Elon Musk announced that his artificial intelligence startup xAI plans to open source Grok, its chatbot designed to rival ChatGPT, later this week. This announcement comes just days after Musk initiated a lawsuit against OpenAI, voicing concerns that the Microsoft-backed company has strayed from its foundational open source principles.

xAI introduced Grok last year, equipping it with the capability to access “real-time” information and express opinions unrestrained by “political correctness.” Currently, the service is available exclusively to subscribers of X’s $16 monthly plan.

While Musk has not specified which components of Grok will become open source, it's noteworthy that he co-founded OpenAI nearly a decade ago alongside Sam Altman to challenge Google's preeminence in the artificial intelligence sector. However, Musk's lawsuit, filed late last month, claims that OpenAI has become a closed-source entity focused on generating profits for Microsoft, contrary to its original promise to make its technology freely accessible to the public. (For OpenAI’s official response, click here.)

“To this day, OpenAI’s website maintains that its mission is to ensure that AGI ‘benefits all of humanity.’ Yet, in reality, OpenAI has morphed into a closed-source subsidiary of the world’s largest tech company: Microsoft,” Musk asserted in his lawsuit.

This legal action has sparked a robust discussion among technologists and investors regarding the value of open source AI. Vinod Khosla, one of OpenAI's early supporters, labeled Musk’s lawsuit as a “massive distraction” from the essential objectives of achieving AGI and its associated benefits.

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, countered Khosla’s views by accusing him of seeking to undermine open source research in AI. “Significant new technologies that contribute to human well-being are often met with unwarranted moral panic,” Andreessen remarked, referencing his firm’s backing of open source chatbot Mistral.

In response to Khosla's concerns, Musk tweeted about the substantial risk to intellectual property from state actors, emphasizing the need for vigilance in the competitive AI landscape.

The forthcoming open sourcing of Grok positions xAI among a growing number of companies, including Meta and Mistral, that have made their chatbot codes publicly available. Musk has consistently championed the open source movement; under his leadership, Tesla has released many of its patents to the public. “Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology,” Musk stated in 2014. Additionally, last year X, formerly Twitter, shared some of its algorithms with the public.

Musk reiterated his critical stance towards the Altman-led OpenAI on Monday, declaring that “OpenAI is a lie.”