xAI could soon drop its own ChatGPT rival

Read time: under 4 minutes

Get ready to add a new chatbot to your rotation. Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly working on its first consumer-facing platform, which rumors suggest could be here before the end of the year. And: Learn how to craft Claude’s responses so they match your unique writing style.

Today’s Insights

• Today in AI: Industry disruptors, OpenAI’s ambitions, and Black Friday

• Tutorial: How to customize Claude responses to match your writing style

• Elon Musk preps a consumer-facing chatbot app

• Everything else you should know today

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI-Generated Images: Make Your Own Drink

TODAY IN AI

1. a16z backs one of AI’s biggest disruptors: The startup behind xAI’s edgy image generator looks set to raise $200M in a new funding round, with VC powerhouse a16z leading the charge. Germany’s Black Forest Labs has made a name for itself with a suite of image and video generators that are light on censorship and filters. The latest round could give the four-month-old startup an estimated valuation of $1B.

2. OpenAI’s ambitious plans for o1: The ChatGPT maker just launched the first enterprise platform built with o1-mini — a legal assistant that can catch even minor errors in paperwork thanks to the model’s advanced reasoning capabilities. OpenAI thinks there’s a lot of potential to expand into other industries, too, including healthcare and manufacturing. Plus, it just filed a trademark application for o1, hinting that newer versions could be coming soon.

3. China is taking things up a notch in the AI race: No chips, no problem. Despite the US ban on high-end AI chips to China, Alibaba released a new open-source “reasoning” model called QwQ-32B-Preview, which seems to give OpenAI’s o1 model a run for its money. And now a new report in the WSJ claims that Chinese tech companies are offering to triple salaries in an attempt to lure key talent away from Western countries.

4. Black Friday’s best bargain hunter might be ChatGPT: A new study from consumer research firm Attest shows that around 44% of Americans plan to use AI to help them find deals this Black Friday. Nearly half say they’ll use chatbots to come up with gift ideas and inspiration — or to get more information about a product they plan to purchase.

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THE AI ACADEMY

How to customize Claude responses to match your writing style

• Go to Claude AI and sign up.

• Now click on ‘Choose style’ below the prompt box.

• Click ‘Create & Edit Styles’ to create and edit your own custom styles.

• Now click ‘Create Custom Style’ and add your writing samples to Claude.

• You can also describe your style in detail. Be as specific as you can.

• Click ‘Generate Style’ and wait for it to analyze your writing style.

• After creating your style, go back to the prompt box and click on ‘Choose style’ to select your new writing style from the list.

• Enter your prompt, Claude will now respond to your prompts using your customized writing style.

FROM THE FRONTIER

Musk guns for Altman with new consumer chatbot

Elon Musk’s beef with OpenAI’s Sam Altman could get even uglier. Musk’s xAI is reportedly throwing its hat in the AI chatbot race, with plans to launch a consumer-facing app as early as next month. The new platform could be a revamped version of Grok or a fresh product that uses the same tech under a different name.

If the app does drop, it’ll put xAI in direct competition with giants like Anthropic, Alphabet, and Microsoft. But as far as Musk is concerned, xAI is more than ready to face the heat. It’s inches away from closing a $5B fundraising round, which would double the company’s valuation to $50B in less than six months.

Although xAI still trails OpenAI in both valuation and revenue, the company’s recent strides will almost certainly have Altman looking over his shoulder as the plot in Silicon Valley’s biggest showdown continues to thicken.

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AI & TECH NEWS

Everything else you need to know today

💬 Vocal Venture: AI startup Hume says it used Anthropic’s new agentic tools to build an app that lets you “control a computer with just your voice.”

🫰 Raising the Stakes: SoftBank agreed to buy $1.5B worth of stocks from OpenAI’s employees, giving the Japanese investment giant a larger stake in Sam Altman’s startup.

📖 Transparency Triumphs: Non-profit research group Ai2 released a pair of LLMs called OLMo2 that it says outperform Llama 3.1, making them “the best fully-open language models to date.”

🎧 Audio Ally: Gemini is getting Spotify integration, letting some users play, search, or browse their music without leaving the chatbot.

💻 Coding on Demand: Uber is creating a new division that will connect freelance programmers and AI labelers with companies in search of their services.

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PROMPT OF THE DAY

Friday Funday – Create Your Own Cocktail

Prompt: Act as a mixologist and help me create a unique cocktail for the weekend. The flavor profile should be [sweet/sour/smoky/spicy/floral/etc.], with a base spirit of [vodka/gin/rum/tequila/whiskey/etc.]. Incorporate seasonal ingredients like [apple cider, cinnamon, summer fruits, etc.] and aim for a [simple/moderately challenging/elaborate] preparation process. The cocktail should be served [shaken/stirred/blended/on the rocks/straight up] in a [martini glass/rocks glass/highball/coupe/etc.], with a garnish of [fruit slices/herbs/edible flowers, etc.]. Adjust the alcohol content to be [strong/balanced/light/mocktail version], and include a step-by-step guide for preparation. 

_{Source: Forbes/ Barry Collins}

AI-GENERATED IMAGES

Create Your Own Cocktail - Image Edition

Prompt: An illustration of the [insert cocktail here] cocktail, featuring [insert alcohol in cocktail, plus other liquids involved, and whether there are ice cubes] in its glass. The drink is garnished with a [insert typical garnish] in the top right corner, presented against a teal background. Emphasize clean lines and bold colors to highlight each element clearly for easy iconography or branding purposes. Ensure that all elements fit within a square frame, creating a visually appealing composition suitable as a clipart on a flat color backdrop. --ar 13:18 --v 6.1

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Zain & the Superhuman AI team