Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, has officially launched its new chatbot, escalating competition with its generative rivals such as OpenAI, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot.
The model, Grok-3, was officially launched on Tuesday and is set to be the tech giant’s most powerful AI chatbot yet.
Tech titan and chief executive Musk labeled the launch the “smartest AI on earth”, as he seeks to outperform other AI heavyweights, namely OpenAI, across its capabilities.
The bot was pre-trained earlier this year and features a new intelligent search engine, DeepSearch, which is designed to enhance research and data analysis.
It is also set to boast over ten times the computing power of its predecessor.
“We’re continually improving the models every day”, Elon Musk said, “and literally within 24 hours, you’ll be able to see improvements”.
Elon Musk’s push into the world of AI
This roll-out signals Musk’s aggressive push into the sector dominated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which Musk has been openly critical of since leaving its board in 2018.
His X platform is reportedly in talks to raise $10bn, which would value xAI at $75bn,
Meanwhile, OpenAI is seeking to raise up to $40bn in a round that would raise its valuation to $300bn as the race between the two tech titans intensifies.
Musk’s rivalry with OpenAI recently reached new heights when he offered to buy Sam Altman’s nonprofit arm for nearly $100bn ($97.4bn) in a bid that was swiftly rejected.
The billionaire also filed lawsuits against OpenAI, accusing the company of abandoning its original mission to develop AI for the public good and instead prioritising profits.
Altman dismissed Musk’s takeover attempt as an attempt to “slow us down”.
Dr Richard Whittle, from University of Salsford’s business school, said: “he potential of a takeover of OpenAI by Elon Musk will give many institutions pause for thought.”
“A ‘Twitterfication’ of OpenAI may rewrite the rules on its use and outputs”.
The newly announced Grok-3 will be rolled out to X Premium subscribers immediately.
The company will also begin a new subscription option, SuperGrok, for its mobile app and website usage.