Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, introduced the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 3, on Monday.
The billionaire hopes this new iteration will make a significant impact in the competitive AI landscape, where it faces rivals like ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek.
The launch coincides with Musk’s influential role in reshaping the United States government under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Using the extensive authority granted to him, Musk is leading efforts to restructure and reduce the size of federal agencies, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
Many of these agencies regulate aspects of Musk’s vast business empire, prompting scrutiny.
“Grok is to understand the universe,” Musk declared during the Grok 3 launch event.
“We’re driven by curiosity about the nature of the universe — that’s also what causes us to be a maximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct.”
Promoted as “scary smart,” Grok 3 boasts ten times the computational power of its predecessor, which debuted in August last year.
The chatbot, trained on synthetic data, incorporates self-correction mechanisms designed to minimize the “hallucinations” that sometimes lead AI models to generate inaccurate information.
“Grok 3 has very powerful reasoning capabilities, so in the tests that we’ve done thus far, Grok 3 is outperforming anything that’s been released, that we’re aware of, so that’s a good sign,” Musk said in a video call with the World Governments Summit in Dubai last week.
Initially, Grok 3 will be available exclusively to Premium+ subscribers of X—formerly known as Twitter, which Musk acquired in 2022—before being released to a broader audience.
Musk’s latest AI project enters a rapidly evolving space, with global players racing to develop more advanced and cost-efficient models.
In January, Chinese startup DeepSeek made waves in the AI industry with its R1 chatbot, a low-cost yet high-quality alternative that challenges U.S. dominance in the sector.
Grok 3 also competes directly with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, rekindling Musk’s rivalry with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Musk and Altman were both among the founding members of OpenAI in 2015, initially established to counterbalance Google’s influence in AI.
Musk contributed $45 million to the startup’s early development but parted ways three years later. In 2022, OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT turned into a worldwide sensation, without Musk at the center, elevating Altman’s status in the tech world.
Since then, their relationship has soured, leading to legal battles. Last week, OpenAI’s board reportedly rejected a Musk-led bid to acquire the company for nearly $100 billion.
Trump’s Tech Agenda
President Trump has placed technology at the forefront of his administration, with tech billionaires playing key roles in policy discussions.
His White House has announced several major AI infrastructure initiatives, reinforcing the sector’s strategic importance.
Musk has emerged as a central figure in Trump’s administration, leading the newly established Department of Government Efficiency tasked with streamlining federal bureaucracy.
However, critics argue that Musk’s dual role as a policymaker and a business magnate presents ethical concerns, particularly as he advises the president on AI regulations—an industry in which he has substantial investments.
Meanwhile, xAI is seeking to raise approximately $10 billion in funding, potentially valuing the company at around $75 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Musk, who also oversees SpaceX and Tesla, launched xAI in July 2023, just months after he signed an open letter advocating for a temporary halt in the development of powerful AI models.
