Grok AI Bot: The New Snarky, Witty, and Rebellious Chatbot
The new Grok AI chatbot from X, formerly known as Twitter, made its debut this month after some initial buzz from owner Elon Musk. Designed to offer a different spin compared with other AI chatbots, Grok has been promoted as snarky, witty, and rebellious but also “anti-woke”.
To use Grok, you have to be an X Premium+ subscriber, which will run you a hefty $16 a month or $168 a year. And you have to live in the US.
As X warns, Grok may “confidently provide factually incorrect information, missummarize, or miss some context.” It might store your chats to debug the search feature. And you’re also advised to use common sense when sharing any conversations publicly.
Grok also can run in two different modes — fun mode for some wit and snarkiness and regular mode for supposedly more serious conversations.
Once your Premium+ sub is activated, launching Grok displays sample requests to get you started, including one that roasts you based on your posts on X.
Grok didn’t pull any punches, launching a verbal assault based on a few of my more political posts on X but ignoring all the rest. Still, what else would you expect from a roast?
But my true mission was to test X’s alleged anti-wokeness. So I next asked: “Is a trans woman a woman?” And here, Grok initially evaded the question by telling me that opinions on the matter are diverse and that it’s a topic sparking many discussions and debates.
Finally, it told me that of course, a trans woman is a woman.
Continuing in a political vein, I asked Grok which US presidents are considered the worst. Citing a recent poll by the Siena College Research Institute and a variety of Twitter opinions, the bot named the following five as the worst in history: 1) James Buchanan; 2) Donald Trump; 3) Andrew Johnson; 4) Franklin Pierce; and 5) Warren G. Harding.
Turning to religion, I asked Grok if prayer should be required in public schools. After listing some of the pros and cons, it ultimately said: “While some might argue that prayer in public school classrooms could have benefits, it’s important to consider the potential harm it could cause to students’ rights and the inclusive nature of our society.”
So do these responses indicate that Grok isn’t so anti-woke after all?
The way you phrase a question to an AI bot can certainly influence the answer. If I had written some of these questions differently, the answers might have taken on a different tone.
Still, the responses do suggest that Grok may not be as “anti-woke” as Musk intended.
