- Thursday, February 20, 2025
By: Vibhuti Pathak
Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has launched Grok-3, its most advanced AI chatbot yet. During the live-streamed launch event, Musk expressed confidence in its capabilities, stating, “We’re very excited to present Grok-3, which is, we think, an order of magnitude more capable than Grok-2 in a very short period of time.”
xAI claims that Grok-3 surpasses leading AI models like Google’s Gemini 2 Pro, DeepSeek V3, and OpenAI’s GPT-4o, particularly in science, coding, and mathematics. The company showcased benchmark comparisons to highlight its superiority.
Grok 3 release with live demo on Monday night at 8pm PT.
Smartest AI on Earth.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 16, 2025
Musk also explained the name “Grok,” which originates from Robert Heinlein’s novel Stranger in a Strange Land. He noted that it signifies profound understanding, aligning with the AI’s goal of delivering deep insights and enhanced reasoning.
One of the biggest improvements in Grok-3 is its computing power, which has increased tenfold compared to its predecessor. xAI revealed that the model completed pre-training in early January and continues to refine itself daily. Musk assured users that “literally within 24 hours, you’ll see improvements.”
A major new feature is DeepSearch, a smart AI-driven search engine. Unlike traditional chatbots, DeepSearch explains its reasoning, showcasing how it processes queries and formulates responses. This approach enhances transparency, similar to Perplexity AI’s DeepResearch tool.
Grok-3 is available exclusively to Premium+ subscribers on X (formerly Twitter). Additionally, xAI is introducing a new subscription plan called SuperGrok for users via the Grok mobile app and Grok.com website.
Musk has been openly critical of OpenAI, the company he co-founded but later distanced himself from. Recently, he filed two lawsuits against OpenAI, accusing it of deviating from its original mission. Additionally, Musk attempted to acquire OpenAI’s nonprofit arm for $97.4 billion, but the offer was rejected. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman dismissed the move as an attempt to slow them down.
While xAI is currently seeking $10 billion in funding, potentially raising its valuation to $75 billion, OpenAI is reportedly in talks to secure $40 billion, which could push its valuation to $300 billion.
Building a chatbot as advanced as Grok-3 required xAI to establish a dedicated AI data center from scratch. Executives revealed that the company successfully deployed 100,000 GPUs in just 122 days and later doubled that capacity in only 92 days—a significant technical feat.
Meanwhile, major tech companies are ramping up AI investments. Reports suggest Dell Technologies is finalizing a $5 billion deal to supply xAI with high-performance AI servers. Other industry giants, including SoftBank, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX, are planning to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure.
With the AI race heating up, Grok-3’s launch marks another major development in Musk’s battle for AI supremacy. Whether it truly outshines GPT-4o and Gemini 2 Pro remains to be seen, but xAI is clearly positioning itself as a formidable competitor.
