Twitter/X’s ChatGPT rival, Grok, has taken a significant step by making its source code open source, following through on Elon Musk’s announcement last Monday. Musk, the owner of Twitter/X and founder of xAI, revealed that Grok’s source code would be freely accessible for modification. The move has been eagerly anticipated by the tech community, marking a shift towards transparency and collaboration in AI development.
The release includes Grok-1’s base model weights and network architecture, which are now available on GitHub. This release offers developers and AI enthusiasts the opportunity to explore and experiment with Grok’s underlying technology. The model, trained on a large amount of text data, is from Grok-1’s “pre-training phase” in October 2023. While not fine-tuned for specific tasks, this open-source release opens up possibilities for further development and customization.
For those who want to use Grok as a chatbot on Twitter/X, the platform is still available, although the good features come at a price. But for developers who want to dig deeper into the code, Grok’s weight and design is released under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing modification and redistribution.
For unity and effectiveness, the release of Grok brings with it a simple rule of conduct: “Be nice to each other.” This ethos proposes a collaborative approach to open development, promoting relationships and social cohesion.
Grok’s move comes as Elon Musk is set to take legal action against AI rival OpenAI. Musk is suing OpenAI for breach of contract, claiming there was a “constructive agreement” for the artificial intelligence to be open source and for the organization to operate as a nonprofit. OpenAI denies these allegations, saying Musk was aware of and agreed to their private and profitable plans.
As the field of artificial intelligence continues to evolve, Grok’s open source version is vital in accessing intelligence and innovation, creating a more collaborative environment, and there is a concerted effort to improve skills.