By Illustration: The Verge
Grok, the AI bot built into the platform formerly known as Twitter, wasn’t supposed to be like other chatbots. Grok was pitched as fun. It was pitched as funny. And it had all of Twitter — errr, X — to tap into for relevant answers. So it was supposed to be useful and responsive, too. But after trying Grok out, I’m left with one basic question: why does it exist?
Technically, of course, Grok exists because Elon Musk wanted an answer to ChatGPT. The service is a paid add-on to X; it rolled out in beta last month to Premium Plus subscribers, who spend $16 a month for it and other perks. For X, it’s supposed to ease a transition away from advertising. For users, it’s supposed to offer the kind of up-to-the-minute information with which…