Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has officially launched Grok 3, its most advanced AI model yet. The new model, released on Monday night, brings upgraded capabilities and enhanced reasoning skills. Grok 3 is available on iOS and the web, competing with OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini.
What Is Grok 3?
Grok 3 is xAI’s latest AI model designed to analyze images and answer complex questions. It powers several features on Musk’s social platform, X. The model has been in development for months and was initially set for a 2024 release but faced delays.
xAI trained Grok 3 using a massive data center in Memphis, equipped with 200,000 GPUs. Musk claims Grok 3 received ten times more computing power than its predecessor, Grok 2. The AI also learned from an expanded dataset, including court filings, making it more knowledgeable.
What Makes Grok 3 Special?
Grok 3 is not just a single model but a family of models. One variation, Grok 3 mini, responds faster but with slightly less accuracy. Another version, Grok 3 Reasoning, focuses on careful problem-solving, similar to OpenAI’s o3-mini and DeepSeek’s R1.
Grok 3 has outperformed GPT-4o in benchmarks such as AIME (math-related questions) and GPQA (PhD-level science questions). Early tests also show strong performance in Chatbot Arena, a popular AI evaluation platform.
Grok 3 introduces new reasoning models that fact-check their responses before answering. This reduces errors and improves accuracy, especially for math, science, and coding tasks. Users can activate these features through the Grok app.
A unique feature called DeepSearch is also part of this launch. Similar to OpenAI’s Deep Research, DeepSearch scans the internet and X to deliver summaries on various topics.
Subscription Plans for Grok 3
Grok 3 is available first to X’s Premium+ subscribers. A new premium plan, called SuperGrok, offers additional benefits like more reasoning queries, unlimited image generation, and DeepSearch access. SuperGrok costs $30 per month or $300 per year.
Musk announced that xAI will soon add a voice mode to Grok. In a few weeks, Grok 3 models and DeepSearch will be available in xAI’s enterprise API. Additionally, xAI plans to open-source Grok 2 once Grok 3 is fully stable.
Grok and Political Neutrality
When Musk introduced Grok, he positioned it as an AI willing to discuss controversial topics that other models avoid. However, studies showed previous Grok models leaned left on political issues. Musk blames this on the training data and has promised to make Grok more politically neutral. Whether Grok 3 achieves this remains to be seen.
Grok 3 is xAI’s biggest AI release yet, packed with advanced reasoning and deep research capabilities. With new subscription options and upcoming voice features, Grok 3 aims to be a strong competitor in the AI space. Whether it surpasses rivals like GPT-4o and Gemini will depend on user adoption and real-world performance.
