Elon Musk’s xAI unveils Grok-3 in intensifying AI battle

• Published On: 19 February 2025 at 06:11

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has released Grok-3, the most recent version of its chatbot, as it seeks to compete with leading AI firms such as China's DeepSeek, Microsoft-backed OpenAI, and Google parent Alphabet.

Grok-3 debuts at a critical juncture in the AI race, just days after DeepSeek released its powerful open-source model. Musk has aggressively expanded xAI's influence, positioning the company as a major player in the industry.

The new chatbot will be available immediately to Premium+ subscribers on Musk's social media platform, X. Additionally, xAI is introducing a new subscription tier, SuperGrok, for users who access the chatbot through its mobile app and website, Grok.com.

"Grok-3 across the board is in a league of its own," Musk said during a livestream on Monday, joined by three xAI engineers. He claimed that the model significantly outperforms its predecessor, Grok-2.

Musk also reaffirmed xAI's commitment to open-source AI, stating that earlier versions of Grok would be made publicly available once Grok-3 reached full maturity, which is expected in the coming months.

The most recent model includes a smart search engine called DeepSearch, which xAI describes as a reasoning-based chatbot capable of explaining its thought process in response to user queries. The tool, as demonstrated during the livestream, is intended for research, brainstorming, and data analysis.

Meanwhile, xAI is increasing its data centre capacity to support the development of advanced AI models. According to reports, the startup is in talks to raise up to $10 billion in funding, which could value the company at $75 billion.

Last week, Musk led a group of investors in a $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI's nonprofit assets, which was turned down by the ChatGPT creator.