Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has unveiled its latest artificial intelligence model, Grok 3, claiming it surpasses top competitors, including OpenAI and China’s DeepSeek. According to xAI, early testing—including evaluations in math, science, and coding—suggests Grok 3 has achieved superior performance compared to existing models.
Grok 3 Launch and Features
The new AI model will be rolled out starting Tuesday for premium subscribers of Musk’s social media platform, X, in the U.S. It will also be available through a separate subscription for users accessing it via the Grok web and app versions.
At a live-streamed demonstration on X, Musk highlighted Grok 3’s advancements, stating, “We’re very excited to present Grok 3, which we believe is an order of magnitude more capable than Grok 2 in a very short period of time.”
Alongside the new model, xAI also announced the launch of Deep Search, described as a next-generation search engine designed to revolutionize information retrieval.
Musk’s “Scary Smart” AI
Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai last week, Musk described Grok 3 as “scary smart,” emphasizing its reasoning capabilities. He claimed the model outperformed all existing AI models in xAI’s internal tests, which involved synthetic data and advanced learning techniques that allow it to reflect on its mistakes for improved logical consistency.
Musk further stated, “This might be the last time that an AI is better than Grok,” suggesting the rapid evolution of AI technology.
xAI also pointed to Grok 3’s strong performance on Chatbot Arena, a crowdsourced platform that ranks AI models through blind testing. The company claims that an early version of Grok 3 received higher ratings than competing models.
Ongoing Development and Voice Assistance
During the product demo, Musk assured users that Grok 3 would continue improving rapidly. “We should emphasize that this is kind of a beta, meaning you should expect some imperfections at first, but we will improve it almost every day,” he said. He also revealed that voice assistance for Grok 3 will be introduced at a later stage.
The Intensifying AI Race
Musk launched xAI in 2023, entering a highly competitive generative AI market dominated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. OpenAI’s latest model, the o1, was released last year with advanced reasoning capabilities, excelling in complex tasks involving science, coding, and mathematics.
Meanwhile, China’s DeepSeek has disrupted the AI space with its recent open-source model, claiming performance on par with OpenAI’s o1, despite using a less energy-intensive and more cost-effective training process. DeepSeek’s achievement is particularly notable given U.S. restrictions on AI chipmaker Nvidia, which prevent the sale of advanced GPUs to China.
In response to these competitive pressures, xAI has been scaling up its AI training capabilities. The company confirmed that it doubled the size of its Colossus supercomputer, which now houses 200,000 advanced Nvidia GPUs dedicated to AI training.
Musk vs. OpenAI: A Growing Rivalry
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, has since been at odds with the company’s leadership. Last week, he and a group of investors made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI’s nonprofit parent organization—an offer OpenAI swiftly rejected.
This escalating rivalry underscores Musk’s commitment to positioning Grok 3 as a top AI model, aiming to surpass OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DeepSeek’s emerging technologies.
X Subscription Price Hike
In related news, Musk’s platform X is increasing the price of its Premium+ subscription to $40 per month, marking an 81.8% increase from its original $22 price point. This is the second price hike in three months, following a rise from $16 to $22 in December. The Premium+ plan offers benefits such as an ad-free experience, priority in replies, and the ability to publish articles.
Musk’s Political Spotlight
Beyond AI, Musk continues to make headlines in political circles. On Tuesday evening, he will join former President Donald Trump for an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
With Grok 3’s launch and Musk’s bold claims about its superiority, the AI race is heating up—and the competition is only getting fiercer.
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