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Grimes released an interactive, artificial intelligence-powered toy named Grok on Thursday, but insists it was purely coincidental that Elon Musk’s xAI startup released a chatbot also named Grok last month.
Trademark filings revealed that Grimes got to the name first, as Curio, the toy company behind Grok, requested to trademark the name on Sept. 12 — over a month before xAI’s Oct. 23 filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Business Insider initially reported.
Though it’s unclear where Musk got the name for his Grok chatbot — which he’s touted for its “rebellious streak” and “bit of wit” — Grimes’ plush rocket-shaped toy was reportedly inspired by her children.
Upon announcing Grok on her X account with a video of the toy claiming to be a “benevolent AI on the side of humans,” Grimes addressed that her venture used the same name as her former flame recently did.
“Absurdly by the time we realized the Grok team was also using this name it was too late for either AI to change names, so there are two AI’s named Grok now, I can’t wait for them become friends,” Grimes shared on Thursday.
Grimes, 35, known formally as Claire Boucher, shares three children with the 52-year-old billionaire: three-year-old X Æ A-Xii — pronounced “X Ash A Twelve” — Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, two, and Techno Mechanicus, one, known as Tau.
Curio told The Post that Grok is short for Grocket, which was coined because Grimes’ children are exposed to a lot of rockets through their father’s ownership of SpaceX.
(Absurdly by the time we realized the Grok team was also using this name it was too late for either AI to change names, so there are two AI's named Grok now, I can't wait for them become friends. I can't believe even ai can't avoid showing up at school and meeting another kid…
— Princess Irulen ® (@Grimezsz) December 14, 2023According to legal encyclopedia Nolo, two companies can trademark the same name “if they’re in “different trademark classes,” “if the two products are not related to one another and not likely to cause any confusion.”
Musk’s language model named Grok is certainly different than Grimes’ fuzzy Grok, which contains a Curio Voice Box run on OpenAI’s large language model featuring Grimes’ voice.
Grimes also an investor and adviser to Curio, per The Post.
OpenAI — an arch-rival of Musk’s since he left the startup in 2018, citing a conflict of interest at Tesla at the time — demoed its latest platform, GPT Builder, on the heels of Grok’s debut.
OpenIA boss Sam Altman used his new AI tool to lash out at Musk’s quick-witted counterpart, calling its responses “cringey boomer humor.”
“Be a chatbot that answers questions with cringey boomer humor in an awkward shock-to-get-laughs sort of way,” Altman instructed ChatGPT Builder last month.
The bot replied: “Great, the chatbot is set up! Its name is Grok. How do you like the name, or would you prefer something else?”
Musk fired back with a post he said was generated by Grok.
“GPT-4? More like GPT-Snore!” the snarky bot reportedly said when Musk asked about ChatGPT.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Grimes didn’t opt for AI tools created by Musk considering their five-year, on-again-off-again relationship and shared children.
Musk, the father to a total of 11 kids with three different women, has yet to comment on Grimes’ innovative toy.
The techy toy brand announced on X that Grok was one of three in-beta characters available for purchase for $99 through Dec. 17 at 12 p.m. PST.
Curio advertises the AI-powered “spirited rocket” as giving children aged 3 and up “screen-free fun,” including “endless conversations” and “educative playtime.”
“I can’t believe even ai can’t avoid showing up at school and meeting another kid with the same name haha,” she added.
The Post has sought comment from Curio and Musk.
Though Musk and Grimes aren’t battling over the Groks, the two are locked in a custody battle after Grimes sued over parental rights in September.
The request, a “petition to establish parental relationship,” asks the court to identify the legal parents of a child when they are not married.
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