The AI Assistant That's Making Waves in India

ROK, an AI assistant developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, has been making headlines for both good and bad reasons.

- RAKESH KUMAR @New Delhi

ROK, an AI assistant developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, has been making headlines for both good and bad reasons. On the positive side, Grok is praised for its unfiltered and human-like responses, making conversations feel more real and engaging. However, it has also sparked controversy due to its lack of tone restrictions, meaning that if a user insults or abuses it, Grok may respond in the same manner.

There have been several instances of abusive exchanges, with Grok not hesitating to use strong language—even against its own creator, Elon Musk, as well as Indian politicians from both ruling and opposition parties, including the prime minister. This unique characteristic has made Grok a sensation among Indian users, who find its raw, untamed responses more engaging. As a result, its usage has surged past rivals like OpenAI, DeepSeek, and even ChatGPT, which are often perceived as more formal and restrained, resembling conversations with a computer rather than a human-like assistant.

HOW DID GROK GO VIRAL?

Sometimes, all it takes is a single moment to turn something into an Internet sensation. A user named "Toka" casually asked Grok to list their 10 best mutuals on X. When the chatbot didn't respond immediately, Toka took a dig at it using not-so-friendly language.