After months of delays and typical Musk hype, xAI has finally released its latest AI flagship model, Grok 3. The Monday launch comes with bold claims about the model's capabilities and a hefty price tag for premium features.
The computing powerhouse
(Image Source: xAI)
Musk hasn't been shy about the resources poured into this project. During a livestreamed presentation, he boasted that Grok 3 was developed with ten times more computing power than Grok 2, leveraging a massive data center in Memphis packed with around 200,000 GPUs. The training data reportedly includes court case filings and other specialized content.
"Grok 3 is an order of magnitude more capable than Grok 2," Musk declared during the presentation, describing it as a "maximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct." Classic Musk—always positioning his products as rebellious alternatives to the establishment.
The Grok 3 release actually encompasses a family of models. There's a smaller "mini" version designed for faster responses, though with slightly reduced accuracy. Not everything announced is immediately available, with some features still in beta.
New features: "Think" Mode and DeepSearch
(Image Source: xAI)
According to xAI, Grok 3 outperforms OpenAI's GPT-4o on several benchmarks, including tests involving math questions and PhD-level science problems. Two models in the family—Grok 3 Reasoning and Grok 3 mini Reasoning—feature enhanced problem-solving capabilities similar to OpenAI's o3-mini and DeepSeek's R1.
(Image Source: xAI)
The Grok app now includes a "Think" command and a "Big Brain" mode for tackling more complex queries. There's also a new DeepSearch feature that scans the internet and X (formerly Twitter) to analyze information and provide summaries—basically xAI's version of OpenAI's deep research tool.
Premium price tag and future roadmap
(Image Source: xAI)
Unsurprisingly, access to these fancy new features comes with a price. X Premium+ subscribers ($50/month) get first dibs on Grok 3, but the full experience requires signing up for a new "SuperGrok" plan, rumored to cost $30 monthly or $300 annually. This premium tier unlocks additional reasoning capabilities, DeepSearch queries, and unlimited image generation.
Musk also teased upcoming features: a voice mode coming within a week, API access for enterprise customers shortly after, and plans to open-source Grok 2 "when Grok 3 is mature and stable, probably within a few months."
When Musk first announced Grok two years ago, he marketed it as an edgy, unfiltered alternative to "woke" AI systems. While earlier versions did include some colorful language capabilities, they still hedged on political topics. One study even found that Grok leaned politically left on certain issues—a finding Musk blamed on the model's training data.
Now, Musk claims to be shifting Grok "closer to politically neutral," though it remains to be seen what that actually means in practice—and whether users will find the results worth the premium price tag.
