Elon Musk's xAI launches Grok 2, an AI 'wild west'
Elon Musk's xAI has announced Grok 2, a new version of their AI chatbot available exclusively to X Premium and X Premium+ (formerly Twitter) subscribers. This introduction is startling and creates a "wild west" in the AI landscape.
We tested it and asked the AI itself to tell a bit about this introduction and we were positively surprised. In this article, we talk about Grok 2 and the important features of this AI model.
What is Grok 2?
Grok 2 is the latest chatbot from xAI, the successor to earlier versions within the Grok series. Released in beta in August 2024, this version offers many more features than its predecessors. Grok 2 can not only respond and reason smarter, but can now create images thanks to its collaboration with Black Forest Labs' FLUX.1 model.
Key features of Grok 2
Improved reasoning capabilities
Grok 2 is considered "better" compared to leading competitors, such as Meta and Anthropic models. According to benchmarks on LMSYS, Grok 2 performs particularly well, making it an attractive option for users looking for advanced AI features.
Image Generation
A notable new feature of Grok 2 is the ability to generate photorealistic images. This is made possible by its integration with FLUX.1. It can create largely uncensored images that can be both innovative and controversial. Users of X can now create images, which was not possible before.
Accessibility
Grok 2 and its smaller variant, Grok-2 mini, are only available to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers. This means that Grok 2's special features are only accessible to paying users, which creates a certain form of exclusivity within the user base.
Comparison with competitors
Although Grok 2 receives much praise for its performance, it has not yet broken the barrier of GPT-4. Nevertheless, it does belong to the class of "GPT-4 class" AI models, which means it can compete with the best AI models currently available.
Cultural impact
Especially because it can create controversial images, it has raised many questions about responsibility and ethics of AI. Since this technology can be used to create fake images of famous people, it creates discussion about how we use technology and what responsibility platforms have about what people do with their tools.
Grok 2 in action
To test whether Grok 2 can provide current and accurate information on topics other than itself, I asked where footballer Mbappé is currently playing and how his debut went. This was Wednesday night, so very topical. Grok 2 gave a correct answer, although the Dutch sometimes sounded a bit unnatural.
After testing several questions, the topicality and "playful" way of answering stand out in particular. In his responses, Grok refers exclusively to related posts on X, as in this example to Voetbal International. Smaller Twitter accounts are also mentioned, sometimes with only a few hundred followers.
Potential hazards and opportunities
Clearly, Grok 2 is trained on the content of X users, which ensures that it can provide up-to-date responses. However, this also carries risks, especially if the information is inaccurate. This development is especially interesting for companies that share newsworthy information and have an audience that is active on X.
Does this apply to your company? Then it might be worth getting active (again) on X and making sure your content is available for Grok's training data. That way, your posts can be included in Grok 2's results, helping you reach a wider audience.
Grok 2 vs. other chatbots
Compared to other chatbots such as ChatGPT, Grok 2 still seems to have its limitations, including its slower response time. Nevertheless, it is certainly an interesting development to keep an eye on and experiment further with. Especially since Elon Musk has already announced that Grok 3 will be launched by the end of this year. His ambition is that Grok 3 will be the most advanced language model, which will be at or above the level of the not yet launched GPT-5.
Trying out Grok 2
If you want to try Grok 2 for yourself, you can click on X Premium in your X settings and activate the Premium subscription there. Then through settings -> X Premium -> Grok, you can try out the Grok 2 mini (beta) version. Grok 2 is also available in the Netherlands from the beginning of this month.
Invitation to monthly AI inspiration sessions
Together with you, we would like to take a look at the most important AI developments, discuss the latest news and updates, share experiences, inspire each other, take advantage of what is possible and prepare ourselves as well as possible for the changes that are coming.
Would you like to attend? Then sign up.
