Elon Musk’s new AI company launches Grok the chatbot

[The Morning After]( It's Monday, November 06, 2023. Elon Musk’s new AI company, xAI, will release its chatbot to X subscribers who pay $16 per month once it exits beta. A select group of X users started testing [Grok]( a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, this weekend. Musk laid out his heady ambitions for xAI earlier this year, saying in July that its intended purpose is, quite literally, “to understand[the true nature of the universe]( Having said that, Musk says Grok will wield a sense of humor, like this… banter sewn into a guide to[making cocaine]( which must be funny to someone. Grok’s notable feature is its real-time access to information published on X, which Musk claims will be “a massive advantage over other models.” Rival chatbots are limited to the information fed to their model. If Grok constantly pulls new information from X, it could have an edge. It could also be more liable to the horrible biases of AI models, not to mention parsing the mass of[misinformation]( swirling around the rebranded social network. — Mat Smith ​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. [Subscribe right here!]( ​​ The biggest stories you might have missed [Black Friday: The best early deals from Amazon, Target, Best Buy and more]( [Volvo EX30 first drive: Charming and eco-friendly with power to spare]( [Echo will be the first Marvel show to hit Disney+ and Hulu simultaneously]( [How the meandering legal definition of ‘fair use’ cost us Napster but gave us Spotify]( [Thousands of people are uninstalling ad blockers after YouTube’s big crackdown]( [X may start selling recycled user handles]( It’s reportedly soliciting people to buy recycled user handles for $50,000. Beyond subscriptions for access to chatbots, X is looking at other ways to make money. The company has been trying to find buyers for inactive user handles, even sending solicitation emails asking for “a flat fee of $50,000 to initiate a purchase,” according to Forbes. Elon Musk announced back in May that X, formerly Twitter, would start purging dormant accounts and even alluded to plans for recycling disused handles. [Continue reading.]( [Fortnite keeps breaking player count records since releasing its OG season]( Fortnite OG brought back the original island map and more. [[TMA] Fortnite]( Since the release of Fortnite OG at the end of last week, player counts have reached new all-time highs — peaking on Saturday with 44.7 million players, according to a tweet from the Fortnite team. Players reportedly clocked a cumulative 102 million hours of play, making it the game’s biggest day ever. Apparently, a 2018 map is old enough to be considered nostalgic. [Continue reading.]( [FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of fraud]( SBF faces up to 110 years in prison. [[TMA] Amr Alfiky / reuters]( A federal jury has found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Arrested in the Bahamas back in December 2022, SBF faces a maximum sentence of 110 years in federal prison for multiple crimes, including committing wire fraud against FTX customers, wire fraud on Alameda Research lenders and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He’ll be sentenced on March 28, 2024. [Continue reading.]( [Washington DC pilots free AirTags scheme to tackle car theft]( The pilot program will focus on certain areas. The city of Washington DC will distribute free Apple AirTags to residents in specific neighborhoods, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Wednesday. The aim: to make stolen cars easier for police to track down. “We are equipping residents with technology that will allow the [Metropolitan Police Department] to address these crimes, recover vehicles and hold people accountable,” Bowser said. DC is the second city to hand out free AirTags to make finding car thieves easier. Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city would give away 500 AirTags to make finding car thieves easier. [Continue reading.]( The Morning After is a daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't [subscribe](. Craving even more? [Like us on Facebook]( or [follow us on Twitter](. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? [Send us a note.]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( You are receiving this email because you opted in at [engadget.com](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe from this newsletter.]( Copyright © 2023 Yahoo. All rights reserved.