Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company unveiled on Monday the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 3, which the billionaire hopes will gain popularity in a highly competitive sector that includes chatbots like ChatGPT and China's DeepSeek.
The launch occurs as the world's richest man is utilizing the significant powers granted by US President Donald Trump to reorganize and dissolve federal agencies.
The unprecedented cost-cutting drive has sparked concerns about potential conflicts of interest, considering that several of those agencies have regulatory oversight of various aspects of Musk's extensive business empire.
Musk has described Grok 3 as "scarily intelligent," with 10 times the processing capacity of its predecessor that was released in August last year.
The main product of xAI was trained on artificial data and uses self-correcting mechanisms that prevent errors –- known as "hallucinations" -– that sometimes affect some AI chatbots and cause them to treat false or misleading information as true.
Grok 3 has incredibly advanced reasoning abilities, so in the tests we've conducted so far, Grok 3 is outperforming all previously released versions, as far as we know, which is a very positive indication.
A cutting-edge chatbot enters a highly competitive market where nations are striving to launch more advanced – and budget-friendly – AI solutions.
A Chinese startup called DeepSeek made a big splash in the global AI industry last month with the release of its low-cost, high-quality R1 chatbot, posing a direct challenge to US ambitions to be the world leader in developing the technology.
Grok 3 is also competing against OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT – pitting Musk against former collaborator and current rival Sam Altman.
Musk and Altman were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015. Established as a counterbalance to Google's AI superiority, the project initially received $45 million in funding from Musk to get it underway.
Musk departed three years later, and in 2022, OpenAI's release of ChatGPT triggered a worldwide technological phenomenon, which surprisingly did not revolve around Musk and catapulted Altman to stardom.
Their relationship has become increasingly strained and contentious ever since, with Open AI's board last week rejecting a Musk-led proposal to acquire the company for nearly $100 billion.
Trump and tech
President Trump has placed technology at the forefront of his new administration. Tech billionaires played a prominent role at his inauguration and he has unveiled several major AI infrastructure projects from the White House.
Musk has emerged as a pivotal figure in the administration, serving as one of Trump's most trusted advisors and the head of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has initiated a groundbreaking restructuring of the US government's administrative system.
Critics argue that Musk's close relationship with the president creates a significant conflict of interest, particularly given his influence on Trump's policy decisions in areas where he has a substantial financial interest, such as artificial intelligence.
According to Bloomberg, xAI is seeking to raise around $10 billion in funding from potential investors, which would place its valuation at approximately $75 billion.
Musk, who also serves as head of SpaceX and Tesla, founded the xAI company in July 2023, following his signature on an open letter advocating for a halt in the development of advanced AI models.