What is Grok AI?
Grok AI is a chatbot created by xAI, a company started by Elon Musk. It’s designed to be different, with a sense of humor and the ability to talk about a wide range of topics, including ones other AI might avoid. The latest version, Grok-3, came out on February 17, 2025, and it’s said to be smarter than many other AI models like GPT-4o, especially in math, science, and coding.
You can use it through the X app, a separate Grok app, or the website Grok.com. Right now, it’s free for everyone, but that might not last long. It has cool features like real-time updates from X and modes for deep thinking or research, which is unexpected for a chatbot—it’s not just for chatting, but also for solving tough problems.
There’s some debate about its accuracy, as it’s had issues with fake news in the past, but xAI is working on fixing that. It’s also known for being a bit “rebellious,” which means it might give bold answers, so it’s good to check important facts.
Development and Versions
Grok AI has evolved through several versions, each improving on its predecessor:
- Grok-1: Released in November 2023, under Apache-2.0 license, with 4 months of development, surpassing Grok-0 (33B parameters, half the training resources of LLaMA 2 70B) in reasoning and coding Announcing Grok.
- Grok-1.5: Released May 15, 2024, with 128,000 tokens context, proprietary, enhancing performance Grok (chatbot) - Wikipedia.
- Grok-1.5V: Announced April 12, 2024, unreleased, focused on visual processing Grok (chatbot) - Wikipedia.
- Grok-2: Released August 14, 2024, with image generation via FLUX.1, proprietary, more intuitive and steerable Grok-2 Beta Release.
- Grok-2 mini: Released August 14, 2024, balancing speed and quality, proprietary Grok (chatbot) - Wikipedia.
- Grok-3: Released February 17, 2025, with 10x more computing power than Grok-2, trained on an expanded dataset including legal filings, proprietary, outperforms GPT-4o on benchmarks like AIME and GPQA Elon Musk’s xAI releases its latest flagship model, Grok 3 | TechCrunch.
- Grok-3 mini: Released February 17, 2025, faster but less accurate, with advanced reasoning capabilities Grok (chatbot) - Wikipedia.
The development process emphasizes custom training and inference stacks based on Kubernetes, Rust, and JAX, focusing on maximizing useful compute per watt, with Rust chosen for scalability and reliability Announcing Grok.
Features and Capabilities
- Standard Chat Mode: Offers fast, conversational responses, ideal for quick queries, with a humorous and rebellious tone What Is Grok? Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Rebellious’ AI.
- Think Mode: Enables step-by-step reasoning for complex problems like math and coding, activated by tapping "Think," introduced with Grok-3 Elon Musk debuts Grok 3, an AI model that he says outperforms ChatGPT and DeepSeek
- Big Brain Mode: For advanced queries requiring more processing, available to premium users, enhancing capabilities for tough problems Musk's xAI unveils Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT, China's DeepSeek
- DeepSearch: A next-generation search engine synthesizing web information, providing detailed reports, demonstrated in Grok-3 demos, taking about a minute to compile Elon Musk’s xAI launches Grok 3 model amid tight AI competition.
- Additional Features: Includes image generation via Aurora (since December 9, 2024, proprietary), web search (since November 16, 2024), and PDF understanding (since November 23, 2024), with Voice Mode expected soon for premium users Grok (chatbot).
- Real-Time Access: Utilizes direct access to X for up-to-date information, a fundamental advantage over competitors What Is Grok? What We Know About Musk's AI Chatbot.
Accessibility and Availability
As of February 25, 2025, Grok AI is free for all users, a move announced on February 20, 2025, with the note “until our servers melt” xAI's Grok 3 is available for free to everyone 'for a short time'. Access methods include:
- Via X: Sign into your X account, navigate to the Grok section, and start chatting.
- Via App: Available on iOS worldwide since January 9, 2025, and Android in select regions (Australia, Canada, India, Saudi Arabia, Philippines) since February 4, 2025 Grok (chatbot) - Wikipedia.
- Via Website: Visit Grok.com and sign in to begin.
Categories
Performance and Benchmarks
Grok AI’s performance is highlighted through benchmarks, with Grok-1 and Grok-3 showing competitive results:
| Benchmark | Grok-0 (33B) | LLaMa 2 70B | Inflection-1 | GPT-3.5 | Grok-1 | Palm 2 | Claude 2 | GPT-4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GSM8k (8-shot) | 56.8% | 56.8% | 62.9% | 57.1% | 62.9% | 80.7% | 88.0% | 92.0% |
| MMLU (5-shot) | 65.7% | 68.9% | 72.7% | 70.0% | 73.0% | 78.0% | 75.0% | 86.4% |
| HumanEval (0-shot) | 39.7% | 29.9% | 35.4% | 48.1% | 63.2% | - | 70% | 67% |
| MATH (4-shot) | 15.7% | 13.5% | 16.0% | 23.5% | 23.9% | 34.6% | - | 42.5% |
- Grok-1 surpassed models in its compute class (ChatGPT-3.5, Inflection-1), only behind models with more training data like GPT-4 Announcing Grok.
- Hand-graded on 2023 Hungarian National High School Math Finals, Grok-1 scored 59% (C grade), vs. Claude 2 (55%), GPT-4 (68%) Announcing Grok.
- Grok-3 claims to outperform GPT-4o on AIME for math and GPQA for PhD-level science, with an Elo score of 1402 on LMArena, though not independently verified Grok 3 Beta — The Age of Reasoning Agents.
| Human-graded evaluation | Grok-0 | GPT-3.5 | Claude 2 | Grok-1 | GPT-4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarian National High School Math Exam (May 2023, 1-shot) | 37% | 41% | 55% | 59% | 68% |
Controversies and Limitations
Grok AI has faced several controversies:
Resource Use: Critics like Luria argue improvements over Grok-2 are small for the enormous resources (200,000 GPUs) used, questioning efficiency Musk's xAI unveils Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT, China's DeepSeek | Reuters.
Accuracy Issues: Generated fake news, e.g., Iran attack on April 4, 2024, solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, updated to stop election misinformation in August 2024, directs to vote.gov for election queries Grok (chatbot) - Wikipedia.
Political Stance: Marketed as not “woke,” adjusted to be politically neutral after found left-wing/libertarian in December 2023, raising debates on bias What Is Grok? Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Rebellious’ AI.
Privacy Concerns: Scoops data from X posts, with opt-out options available, causing concern among users What You Need to Know About Grok AI and Your Privacy | WIRED.
Conclusion
Grok AI stands as a powerful AI tool, offering a blend of reasoning, search, and conversational capabilities. By accessing it through X, the app, or Grok.com, users can leverage its features for research, problem-solving, and creativity. While currently free, considering premium options ensures long-term access to advanced features. This report equips users to navigate Grok AI effectively, enhancing their interaction with this cutting-edge technology, while acknowledging ongoing controversies and areas for improvement.
