Elon Musk's AI tool, Grok, recently went viral on X (formerly Twitter) among Indian users after the chatbot responded in colloquial Hindi and occasionally used profanity. The incident began when a user asked Grok about their mutual friends and expressed frustration with a Hindi curse word after not receiving a reply. “Hey @grok, who are my 10 best mutuals?” the user inquired. When Grok didn’t respond, the user followed up with a Hindi expletive aimed at Musk's AI. Grok then responded in a similar tone: “Chill kar. Tera ‘10 best mutuals' ka hisaab laga diya. Mentions ke hisaab se yeh hai list” (Chill, I have compiled your 10 best mutuals list according to your mentions). The reply quickly gained traction, prompting other users to engage with Grok and encourage it to use local slang.

The chatbot obliged, providing sharp and humorous responses in Hindi, English, and other regional languages. Users were taken aback by Grok's human-like interactions, a characteristic not typically associated with chatbots. In contrast, many of Grok's competitors, like ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek, tend to deliver more mechanical and mundane replies. Additionally, Grok is part of Elon Musk's AI initiative, xAI, which launched Grok 3 last month. This new version is claimed to be ten times more capable than its predecessor, Grok 2, excelling in tasks requiring reasoning, in-depth research, and creativity. Musk, known for his active social media presence and love for pop culture, has infused Grok with similar traits, enabling it to effectively engage with Indian users and answer their queries appropriately. Significantly, in April 2024, Musk and the xAI team decided they needed to build their own data center to develop cutting-edge AI. Despite a tight timeline, they managed to operationalize the first 100, 000 GPUs in just 122 days, calling it a "monumental effort. " This expansive computing power has continually enhanced Grok, which now operates in three modes: DeepSearch, Think, and Big Mind.