(March 26): Elon Musk said his artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, plans to upgrade its AI video generator, seizing on an opening left by rival OpenAI’s decision this week to discontinue its Sora product.
“The next Grok Imagine release will be epic,” Musk said in a social media post, referring to xAI’s video creation product. “We are doubling down.” Musk also shared a series of AI-generated videos made with the Grok chatbot on Wednesday.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI and has since clashed with the company, has attempted to compete with ChatGPT and other chatbots by enabling users to quickly create realistic-looking images and videos, among other features. The Imagine video product was described as one of xAI’s four core areas during a staff meeting with Musk in February.
OpenAI’s move to shutter its Sora video app may create an opportunity for other rivals, including xAI, Runway AI Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google. Yet, the ChatGPT maker’s announcement also raises doubts about the costs and rewards of offering an AI video service.
The free Sora app quickly rose to the top of Apple’s App Store after its release late last year, but has since fallen in the rankings. Sora, like other AI video generators, also needs a lot more computing power to run. OpenAI’s decision to nix the service coincides with the company’s push to streamline its sprawling product line-up.
Musk’s push to stick with xAI’s video product may be complicated by recent staff departures. Guodong Zhang, an xAI co-founder who was in charge of Imagine, left the company earlier this month. Haotian Liu, another employee who worked with Zhang on video strategy, also departed.
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XAI’s Grok chatbot has also faced a global uproar for spreading non-consensual explicit images.
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee
