Ever since Elon Musk and xAI launched their answer to ChatGPT, users have prompted the offering to death. Almost every viral post on X (formerly Twitter) has requests for clarifications from Elon’s AI bot – though not every response appears relevant.

It was recently revealed that some 300,000 Grok conversations had been inadvertently indexed by Google. Instead of conversations remaining private, a user opting to share a transcript of their Grok conversation inadvertently makes the chat searchable online.

Among them were a host of queries asking the xAI chatbot about several upcoming AI hardware developers, tasking it with generating “executive summaries,” almost like a pseudo-VC research analyst.

Grok generated VC-style briefings covering everything from a company's exit goal to the likelihood of them achieving a successful IPO.

The information generated by the xAI app, however, was often considerably wide of the mark.

California-based Celestial AI was among the subjects of the summaries – with a company spokesperson telling SDxCentral that information generated by Grok was being “either out of date or inaccurate.”

For example, Grok listed Celestial’s total capital raised to $350 million, lower than the total capital at the time of writing, which stands at more than $520 million.

Grok even recommended contacting Celestial staff who don’t exist – falsely creating a "head of business development" that can be contacted for “partnership and investment discussions.” The chatbot listed one “Sarah Kim” in that role. However, that person is not real. Among Celestial’s human resources leads is Andrew Kim, while Victoria Sevilla is their VP for people.

Another egregious example was Grok listing that the company “aims for an IPO by 2027,” which was disputed by the firm.

A Celestial AI spokesperson said the company wasn’t aware of the summary until contacted by SDxCentral, but found “several red flags and concerns” in Grok’s attempted executive summary.

Venture capital Mad Libs

A recent MIT study suggests that excessive use of AI can significantly reduce brain activity and memory, with some users relying on the technology to do all the work for them.

So, where better to apply such a use to finding the next big stock … if only venture investing were as easy as typing a prompt.

Given Nvidia’s meteoric rise, it’s a given that investors are looking for the next chip startup, what with AI here to stay – unlike previous victims of the tech hype cycle like the metaverse and NFTs.

While these AI-generated summaries may be handy to some, they risk flattening nuanced, technical businesses into a VC Mad Libs template. Real due diligence still requires engineers, analysts, and conversations with customers – not just chatbot prompts.

Genuine information about Celestial AI

Founded in 2020, the Santa Clara, California-based firm is developing optical interconnect technology for data centers and AI computing solutions.

The company’s Photonic Fabric technology allows AI compute to be networked from within processor packages to servers across multiple racks, which has the potential to boost bandwidth, latency, and energy efficiency in clusters running intense workloads.

Earlier this year, the firm raised $250 million, securing backing from the likes of AMD Ventures, BlackRock, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Fidelity Management & Research Company.

Who else was subject to the summaries?

Groq

Groq was co-founded in 2016 by Jonathan Ross, who previously helped lead Google's tensor processing unit development. The company provides dedicated chips and accelerators within its own servers and racks designed for AI, machine learning (ML), and high-performance computing (HPC).

The firm recently secured a $1.5 billion investment from Saudi Arabia to build out AI inference infrastructure in the country. In August 2024, Groq closed a $640 million funding round led by BlackRock, which also included participation from Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund.

Grok’s summary for the Mountain View-based firm claimed:

• The startup was aiming for an IPO
• It was projected to generate revenues of $300 million in 2027 and $500 million in 2028
• Groq holds a share of the AI inference hardware market of less than 5%

Rebellions

South Korean startup Rebellions was founded in 2020 and began mass production of its Atom AI chip in 2024. The firm is set to combine with fellow chip startup Sapeon Korea, retaining the Rebellions name.

Saudi oil company Aramco’s venture unit previously backed the fabless firm, and also previously worked with Samsung Electronics to develop proprietary chips for generative AI.

Grok’s summary for Rebellions claimed:

• Rebellions holds a “negligible market share” currently but will capture a niche in the generative AI chip market by 2030
• Its projected annual revenue rate was $0
• The firm “aims for an IPO within five to seven years”

Tenstorrent

Tenstorrent is a chip designer founded in 2016. It develops AI accelerators for both the cloud and edge. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was among the investors in its December 2024 Series D, where it raised $693 million. Samsung Securities and AFW Partners also participated.

Grok’s Tenstorrent summary claims:

• Tenstorrent could generate revenues from $100 million in 2026, rising to $500 million by 2028
• The firm is “aiming for an IPO” and that a strategic merger with a tech giant “remains possible”