Grimes' new AI venture, the Grok toy, has beaten her on-off partner Elon Musk's xAI chatbot in a race for intellectual property rights.
Business Insider reports that the chronology of trademark filings has revealed an intriguing precedence. Curio, the company behind Grimes' creation, lodged their application for the Grok trademark on September 12, well ahead of xAI's filing on October 23.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk (L) and Canadian musician Grimes (Claire Boucher) attend the 2018 Space X Hyperloop Pod Competition, in Hawthorne, California on July 22, 2018. -
Grimes and Musk's Groks
The striking similarity in names-both Grok-prompted eyebrows to raise, linking the artistic endeavors of Grimes and the entrepreneurial pursuits of Musk.
Speaking with the Washington Post, Curio shed light on their naming choice, indicating that 'Grok' is a portmanteau of 'rocket,' a nod to the frequent exposure of Grimes' children to space technology through their father's aerospace giant, SpaceX.
Designed to interact using Grimes' voice, the Grok toy takes on a personal touch, with the singer revealing its intended purpose: a playful, AI-infused companion for her children with Musk.
Grimes recently revealed the latest 'Grok' in the market. Grok, according to the pop star, is the latest interactive toy from Curio, and it provides an intuitive companion for children with no screens.
Grok Beta is now available for purchase and testing for $99, and it includes Grimes' voice, bringing the soft and squishy children's toy to life for all interactions.
Delving deeper into the semantic origins, the term 'grok' carries significant weight. Defined as "to understand profoundly and intuitively," according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it potentially draws inspiration from Robert Heinlein's sci-fi novel, "Stranger in a Strange Land."
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A Rocky Relationship
However, amidst this trademark race, a parallel legal battle ensues in the personal lives of Grimes and Musk. Locked in a custody dispute over their three children, the ongoing courtroom drama might cast a shadow over this professional clash, hinting at deeper complexities and potential implications.
However, Business Insider has also reported Grok, Musk's AI chatbot, expressed interest in collaboration when asked, while Grimes welcomed the idea of the AI bots becoming friends in a recent post on X.
Musk's xAI Chatbot
Elon Musk's xAI platform recently drew attention to unexpected glitches. Ars Technica reports that security tester, Jax Winterbourne, revealed a concerning screenshot of Grok refusing a query citing "OpenAI's use case policy," despite being distinct from OpenAI's ChatGPT, causing a stir online.
In response to queries, an xAI representative acknowledged the anomaly. Igor Babuschkin cited the unintended incorporation of ChatGPT outputs during Grok's training on web data, promising future iterations would address the issue. Winterbourne highlighted its recurrent nature in code creation.
Experts remain skeptical of Babuschkin's explanation, questioning the model's direct training on OpenAI policies, potentially stemming from Grok's fine-tuning using OpenAI language model outputs. This raises pivotal concerns amid Grok's widespread rollout.
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