Grok, Microsoft Pilot have different responses to ‘what’s happening in Ayodhya’

Same event, different interpretations: Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma asked Elon Musk-launched GenAI platform Grok what it knows about Ayodhya, and what is happening in the city today.

The response has left the internet in awe.

Source: Vijay Shekhar Sharma on X

Taking to X, Sharma applauded Grok’s response, wherein it described Ayodhya’s sacred significance and also elucidated about the consecration ceremony.

It also highlighted its importance to millions of Hindus across the globe.

Sharma’s question read, “What do you know about Ayodhya? And what is happening there tomorrow on Monday?,” signalling he had asked the generative chatbot about the event a day earlier on Sunday.

“Ayodhya is an ancient city located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is considered one of the seven sacred cities in Hinduism and is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Rama, an important deity in the Hindu pantheon. The city has a rich history and is home to many temples and religious sites,” Grok’s description of Ayodhya read.

On the consecration, Grok described the Ram Temple inauguration as a long-awaited one,  which is a result of “years of efforts to build a grand temple dedicated to Lord Rama at the very spot where he is said to have been born.”

Grok went on to elaborate on the inauguration ceremony, calling it “Pran Pratishta,” the Devnagri term for consecration and said Lord Rama’s idol will be installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

“This event is of great importance to millions of Hindus worldwide and is expected to be a grand and memorable affair,” the last line of the 3-paragraph response read.

Users called Grok a fast learner, and “non-woke” over the response. 

In contrast, a user shared Microsoft Copilot’s version, which adds the city’s situation “on the banks of the Sarayu river” and describing it as “setting of the epic, Ramayana.” 

Microsoft Copilot's response to Ayodhya ceremony shared on X

The rest of Microsoft’s chatbot reads: Ayodhya has been a site of religious and political conflict for centuries, especially over the disputed land where a mosque was demolished by Hindu mobs in 1992, who claimed that it was built over a temple of Rama.”

Though Copilot’s response for the consecration was similar to Grok’s, it added the ceremony will take place “at the same disputed site” and mark the “culmination of a long legal and political battle” that ended with the Supreme Court’s ruling. 

OpenAI's ChatGPT, which does not offer information on updated events for its free version (3.5) after January 2022, replied it did not have specific, real-time information on events happening in Ayodhya or any other location. 

“To get the latest and most accurate information, I recommend checking the latest news reports from reliable sources or official announcements. If there have been recent developments in Ayodhya since my last update, you can find up-to-date information through news websites, government sources, or other reliable news outlets,” it added.