"xAI's Grok may become a joke"

2023-11-27

"OpenAI has generated over 1.3 billion views on X in the past few days - more than twice what we saw at the Grammys," exclaimed Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X. She hinted that the platform has been the main source of all the gossip surrounding OpenAI in recent days. Yaccarino is not wrong. From tech enthusiasts to journalists, everyone is keeping an eye on X, trying to understand the developments of the OpenAI event. This has sparked a new discussion about whether mainstream media is on the brink of a survival crisis. Furthermore, in order to increase engagement on X, Elon Musk plans to launch Grok next week. This generative AI chatbot, trained on posts from X, will be able to answer queries on a wide range of topics, from sports and politics to technology. Although X is considered a leading platform for real-time news, it is also notorious for spreading misinformation. It will be interesting to observe how Grok, powered by AI, decides which content to include or exclude. The question is, traditional media is not going to disappear quickly. The challenge that traditional media has faced so far is engagement, an area where social media has the upper hand. Even when considering the case of OpenAI, although X provides news from sources like OpenAI or Microsoft employees, there is also a lot of noise that makes it difficult to judge the accuracy of the information. Additionally, all major breaking news comes from reputable publications like The Information, Bloomberg, and The New York Times. While the comment section of news websites has been a traditional means of reader interaction, the emergence of generative AI presents a great opportunity. News publications can integrate generative AI elements into their websites to engage with readers, conduct surveys, provide query responses based on articles, recommend more relevant content, and explore other appealing features. Publications like Forbes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal have already started experimenting with AI. Forbes recently added a generative AI chatbot named Adelaide, where readers can ask specific questions or provide broad topic areas to find related articles. Furthermore, they can receive concise answers to their queries, as long as it falls within Forbes' coverage. Viewpoints and content are crucial. On X, users share various types of content, ranging from serious to humorous, from sarcastic to technical jargon. Determining which posts Grok should rely on to generate answers will not be an easy task. Moreover, large language models (LLMs) often produce illusions and provide inaccurate information. Relying solely on posts from X may pose a challenge for users. For users, turning to reputable media for the latest updates is more convenient, as that information is verified and comes with context. In the past, there have been incidents where users struggled to understand the content posted on X. To improve over time, Grok offers a feature where users can provide feedback to the XAI team on how the AI responds to questions. This includes suggesting an ideal response to continue training the AI, which is a wise decision. While Grok may prove to be a valuable addition to increasing engagement on X, it may still take a considerable amount of time to truly become a replacement for traditional media. Not to dampen Grok's spirits, it may still be the fun chatbot that Musk desires.