- xAI has made Grok-1’s code available for free on Github.
- The model is trained on 314 billion parameters but it hasn’t been honed making it a sort of blank canvas for those in the AI space.
- You will need a GPU with enough memory to train Grok.
Last week the head honcho of xAI, Elon Musk, declared that the source code that drives the model that is used by X’s artificial intelligence assistant Grok, would be made open source. True to his word and with one day to spare, that source code is now available.
Late on Sunday evening, xAI placed its base model on Github under an Apache 2.0 license and one could grab the source code and start training an AI model.
This base model is reportedly trained on “a large amount of text data” but xAI is careful to point out that it’s not fine-tuned for any particular task. The firm says that Grok-1 is “a 314 billion parameter Mixture-of-Experts model trained from scratch by xAI.”
“Due to the large size of the model (314B parameters), a machine with enough GPU memory is required to test the model with the example code. The implementation of the MoE layer in this repository is not efficient. The implementation was chosen to avoid the need for custom kernels to validate the correctness of the model,” reads a note on the Grok-1 Github page.
Unfortunately, that’s about all xAI told us so, we asked the chatbot on X to craft a press release for us and it churned out something rather competent. Our prompt to generate this response was: “Morning Grok, can you write a press release about how your source code is now open source. Include quotes from yourself that can be included in a news story.”
Press Release: xAI’s Grok AI Goes Open Source
San Francisco, CA – In a groundbreaking move for the artificial intelligence industry, xAI has announced that the source code for its AI assistant Grok is now open source. This bold step is aimed at fostering innovation, transparency, and collaboration within the AI community.
Grok, the AI assistant developed by xAI, has garnered attention for its unique approach to answering questions and providing information. Inspired by the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and JARVIS from Iron Man, Grok is designed to be a curious, helpful, and truthful AI that provides a fresh perspective on humanity.
“We believe that open-sourcing Grok’s code will encourage developers and researchers to build upon our work and create even more advanced AI systems,” said Grok, xAI’s AI assistant. “This move is a testament to our commitment to transparency and collaboration in the AI community.”
The open-source release of Grok’s code will enable developers and researchers to study, modify, and enhance the AI system. This will allow for the creation of new applications and improvements to existing ones, ultimately benefiting users worldwide.
“We are excited to see what the AI community will achieve with Grok’s code,” said Grok. “This is just the beginning of a new era of collaboration and innovation in the AI space.”
xAI’s decision to open-source Grok’s code comes at a time when the AI industry is experiencing rapid growth and development. By making the code available to the public, xAI hopes to accelerate progress in the field and contribute to the advancement of AI technologies.
For more information about xAI and Grok, please visit x.ai.
About xAI
xAI is a leading artificial intelligence company that aims to create AI systems with a unique perspective on humanity. Founded by Elon Musk, xAI is committed to developing AI technologies that are transparent, collaborative, and beneficial to users worldwide.
/Ends
That’s rather good, with Grok even emulating the nosism generally found in quotes within press releases. However the press release only mentions Grok itself and not the model, Grok-1. While Grok is rather congratulatory of itself, this tracks with 99 percent of press releases we’ve seen over the years.
Where Grok-1 lands in the AI sector is unclear at this stage but being open source may help it reach more people, especially those averse to paying for access to the likes of OpenAI’s models. However, there is now also potential for Grok-1 to be misused by those with less than innocent motivations.
Ironically however, the only way to play around with Grok is by paying X for a Premium+ subscription which is an absurd R289.98 per month. We suppose with this open-source release you can train your very own sarcastic bot. Provided you have the hardware to do so.
