Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend Claire Elise Boucher, who is known professionally as Grimes, is working on a rocket-shaped plush toy that will be powered by artificial intelligence (AI). This AI toy will be known as “Grok”.
It is worth noting that Grok is the first product from Curio, a Silicon Valley startup that adopts OpenAI’s technology for a wide range of toys.
The company’s founders, CEO Misha Sallee and President & Chief Toymaker Sam Eaton, claim that their toys are designed to hold long, fully interactive and real friend-like conversations with a child.
According to a report by The Washington Post, Grimes will provide the voice of Grok. The 35-year-old Canadian singer is an investor and adviser to Curio.
Sallee recently revealed that Grok was designed with Grimes’ children in mind. “The toy was designed for X and the other kids but X primarily because he’s of age where he can actually talk to the toy and it can talk back more effectively,” the top executive explained.
To those unaware, tech mogul Elon Musk shares 3 children with Grimes: X Æ A-Xii, Exa Dark Sideræl and Techno Mechanicus.
While the former couple went public with their first pregnancy, they have since decided to keep details about the births of their other children under wraps citing the on-again, off-again nature of their relationship, as per a report by People.
The word on the street is that they welcomed their second child, Exa Dark Sideræl, via surrogate in 2022. Musk and Grimes have reportedly been co-parenting their children after splitting up.
In September 2021, Musk told Page Six that he and Grimes were “semi-separated” but still loved each other and were on great terms. Interestingly, there’s no connection between Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI’s generative AI model Grok and the toy.
Who is the owner of the trademark for the name Grok?
The Musk-led AI company unveiled Grok last month. Meanwhile, Curio claims their AI product isn’t related to Musk’s Grok AI tool. In fact, the company says it is the owner of the trademark for the name.
Grimes says she trademarked Grok before Musk announced the Grok AI. Moreover, trademark filings show she got the name first. Curio requested to trademark the name on September 12, more than a month before xAI’s October 23 filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
While Grimes’ plush toy was reportedly inspired by her children, it is unclear where Musk got the name for his Grok AI chatbot.
(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, 2023
Apparently, Grimes is no stranger to AI. Back in 2020, she created an ambient soundtrack called “AI Lullaby” using artificial intelligence to put babies and adults to sleep.
“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 noted in an X (formerly Twitter) post earlier this month.
