It’s been yet another wild year in professional golf, the type when one ridiculous event occurs after another and each is less believable than the last. Yet even if you are the type who expects the unexpected, there is no way you expected to see Elon Musk tweet (X) out a John Daly–Tiger Woods meme in the year of our Lord, 2023.
That’s exactly what happened overnight, when Musk, the active owner of the app formerly known as Twitter, sent out the famous picture of Daly and Woods at a recent Open Championship. The picture features Daly decked out in one of his classic Loudmouth looks and ripping a cigarette, talking to Woods, who is dressed in his normal Nike garb. The meme can be interpreted and used in myriad ways, but the most basic way to break it down is that Daly is the fun option and Woods is the safe option.
Musk used it to debut “Grok”, a new AI chatbot that is expected to rival the likes of ChatGPT. Grok is Daly, while Woods is ChatGPT, as you can see for yourself:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2023
An article about a meme that is being used to launch a chatbot that will probably take my job and write said article sooner rather than later. Can’t think of a more 2023 sentence than that.
The deeper meaning of Musk’s meme? “Grok”, according to Musk, has a sarcastic sense of humour, and it was designed to answer questions with a bit of wit. It’s also said to have a bit of a “rebellious streak”, which is in no way terrifying at all. It will soon be made available to subscribers of X’s premium service. So if you’re a ChatGPT person who is looking for a more fun version of a robot, i.e. the John Daly version, than “Grok” should be right up your alley. What a world.
