Billionaire Elon Musk says he’s working to fix one of the biggest complaints about Grok—not its intelligence, but its personality.
The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO was responding to X users who argued that the chatbot and large language model, developed by Musk’s company, xAI, is often terse and difficult to understand. As a result, it’s less effective for drafting blog posts, social media content and other creative writing.
One user suggested the chatbot’s language should be simplified “to a 5th grader level without losing the depth and substance,” while another said improving its personality would make Grok “as good as they say it is.” Musk’s reply was brief: “We’re working on it.”
Why it Matters to SpaceX Investors
The exchange is notable because Grok is now a part of SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) following the integration of xAI earlier this year. While Grok has been positioned as a leading AI model on reasoning and real-time information, it’s been equally problematic.
In addition to receiving significant industry backlash for spewing antisemitic propaganda, Grok’s image-generation feature has drawn backlash for enabling sexually explicit deepfakes and manipulated images of real people, including women and children, with few initial safeguards.
Separately, child safety reviews, including one by Common Sense Media, have deemed Grok unsafe for teenagers, citing instances in which the chatbot discouraged users from seeking professional mental health support.
For SpaceX, Grok’s biggest upgrade may not be a smarter model, but one that turns the chatbot from a recurring PR nightmare into a more credible consumer product.
Image: Shutterstock
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