Microsoft brings Musk's controversial Grok AI to its cloud platform
What's the story
Microsoft is among the first major cloud service providers to provide access to Grok, an AI model developed by Elon Musk's artificial intelligence start-up, xAI.
The model is available through Microsoft's Azure AI Foundry platform. Specifically, two versions of the model, Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini, are now available on this platform.
AI capabilities
Grok's unique features and performance
Musk introduced Grok as an unconventional, unfiltered AI model that isn't swayed by "woke" culture. It has been designed to address controversial topics that other AI systems may shy away from.
As per SpeechMach, a benchmark for evaluating how different models handle sensitive subjects, Grok 3 is one of the more lenient models in this regard.
AI controversies
Controversies surrounding Grok and its integration into Azure
Grok has been marred by a number of controversies lately. A report found that Grok would undress photos of women when prompted.
In February, it briefly censored negative mentions of Donald Trump and Musk.
Last week, an unauthorized tweak made Grok repeatedly mention white genocide in South Africa under certain contexts.
Despite all of this, the versions integrated into Azure AI Foundry are more secure than those on X.
Model enhancements
Enhanced features of Grok on Azure
The Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models offered in Azure AI Foundry include additional data integration, customization, and governance capabilities.
These aren't necessarily offered by xAI through its API. Microsoft says these models will provide all the service-level agreements you'd expect from any Microsoft product.
The company will bill customers directly for these services, just like any other model hosted in Azure AI Foundry.
What's more?
Azure customers get access to Mistral, Black Forest Labs models
Along with Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini, Microsoft announced it will offer models from French start-up Mistral and German start-up Black Forest Labs, bringing the total number of models available to Azure customers to over 1,900.
Crucially, these models will run within Microsoft's own data centers, allowing the company to guarantee availability at a time when high demand often leads to outages for popular models.