Media & Culture

Elon Musk confirms xAI "partly" distilled OpenAI’s models to train Grok

Musk's xAI used OpenAI's own models to train Grok, despite his public criticism.

Deep Dive

A Reddit user noted that the source of supposedly good benchmark scores is now known, calling the situation hypocritical given Musk's regular criticism of OpenAI.

Key Points
  • Elon Musk confirmed xAI used distillation from OpenAI's models to train Grok.
  • The practice explains Grok's strong benchmark results, which were previously attributed to xAI's own innovation.
  • The admission contradicts Musk's frequent criticism of OpenAI's closed and proprietary approach.

Why It Matters

Reveals common practice of model distillation and Musk's selective criticism of OpenAI.