Grimes says she trademarked ‘Grok’ before Elon Musk released snarky new AI bot
NY Post
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.
