Grok (chatbot)

Musk was one of the 11 co-founders of OpenAI, and initially co-chaired it with Sam Altman.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-12 |title=Only 4 of OpenAI’s 11 Founders Are Still With the Company—Where Are the Rest of Them? |url=https://observer.com/2024/07/openai-founders-career/ |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=Observer |language=en-US}} He left the company's board in 2018, saying of his decision that he "didn't agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do".{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=Sarah |title=Elon Musk says he's planning to create a 'maximum truth-seeking AI' that he likes to call 'TruthGPT' |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-hes-building-ai-he-calls-truthgpt-2023-4 |access-date=December 7, 2023 |work=Business Insider |date=April 17, 2023 |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180845/https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-hes-building-ai-he-calls-truthgpt-2023-4 |url-status=live }}

OpenAI went on to launch ChatGPT in 2022, and GPT-4 in March 2023. The same month, Musk was one of the individuals to sign the "Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter" from the Future of Life Institute, which called for a six-month pause in the development of any AI software more powerful than GPT-4.{{cite magazine |last1=Knight |first1=Will |title=In Sudden Alarm, Tech Doyens Call for a Pause on ChatGPT |url=https://www.wired.com/story/chatgpt-pause-ai-experiments-open-letter/ |access-date=December 7, 2023 |magazine=Wired |date=March 29, 2023 |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180846/https://www.wired.com/story/chatgpt-pause-ai-experiments-open-letter/ |url-status=live }}

In April 2023, Musk said in an interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight that he intended to develop an AI chatbot called "TruthGPT", which he described as "a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe". He expressed concern to Carlson that ChatGPT was being "trained to be politically correct".{{cite news |title=Elon Musk says he'll create 'TruthGPT' to counter AI 'bias' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-ap-chatgpt-tesla-openai-b2321564.html |access-date=December 7, 2023 |work=The Independent |date=April 18, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180758/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-ap-chatgpt-tesla-openai-b2321564.html |url-status=live }}

TruthGPT would later be renamed after "grok", a verb coined by American author Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land to describe a form of understanding.{{Cite web |last1=Cuthbertson |first1=Anthony |date=November 7, 2023 |title=How Elon Musk's 'spicy' Grok compares to 'woke' ChatGPT |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/grok-vs-chatgpt-xai-musk-b2442866.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202205919/https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/grok-vs-chatgpt-xai-musk-b2442866.html |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Grok-1

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = xAI

| released = {{start date and age|2023|11|3}}

| repo = {{url|https://github.com/xai-org/grok-1}}

| qid = None

| replaced_by = Grok-1.5

| genre = {{ indented plainlist |

• Large language model
• Foundation model

}}

| license = Apache-2.0

| website = {{url|https://x.ai/blog/grok}}

}}

In November 2023, xAI began previewing Grok as a chatbot to selected people,{{Cite web |last=Picciotto |first=Rebecca |date=November 5, 2023 |title=Elon Musk debuts 'Grok' AI bot to rival ChatGPT, others |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/05/elon-musk-debuts-grok-ai-bot-to-rival-chatgpt-others-.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108012852/https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/05/elon-musk-debuts-grok-ai-bot-to-rival-chatgpt-others-.html |archive-date=November 8, 2023 |access-date=November 8, 2023 |website=CNBC |language=en}} with participation in the early access program being limited to paid X Premium users.{{cite web |title=xAI Grok |url=https://grok.x.ai/ |website=grok.x.ai |access-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109231329/https://grok.x.ai/ |url-status=live }}

It was announced that once the bot was out of early beta, it would only be available to higher tier X Premium+ subscribers.{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2023 |title=Elon Musk unveils new sarcasm-loving AI chatbot for premium X subscribers |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-x-grok-ai-chatbot-b2442167.html |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=November 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106103524/https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-x-grok-ai-chatbot-b2442167.html |url-status=live }}

At the time of the preview, xAI described the chatbot as "a very early beta product – the best we could do with 2 months of training" that could "improve rapidly with each passing week".{{cite web |last1=xAI |title=Announcing Grok! |url=https://twitter.com/xai/status/1721027348970238035 |website=X (formerly known as Twitter) |access-date=November 10, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=November 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105050309/https://twitter.com/xai/status/1721027348970238035 |url-status=live }}

On March 11, 2024, Musk posted on X that the language model would go open source within a week. Six days later, on March 17, Grok-1 was open sourced under the Apache-2.0 license.{{Cite web |last=David |first=Emilia |date=March 18, 2024 |title=xAI open sources Grok |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/17/24097810/xai-open-source-grok-musk-generative-ai-llm |access-date=March 19, 2024 |website=The Verge |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=grok-1 Torrent |url=https://academictorrents.com/details/5f96d43576e3d386c9ba65b883210a393b68210e |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=Academic Torrents |language=en}} Disclosed were the networks architecture and its weight parameters.Matthew S. Smith: [https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-source-ai-grok-llm Grokking X.ai’s Grok: Real Advance or Just Real Troll?] In: IEEE Spectrum, March 24, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2024.

On March 26, 2024, Musk announced that Grok would be enabled for premium subscribers, not just those on the higher-end tier, Premium+.{{Cite web |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=March 26, 2024 |title=Elon Musk says all Premium subscribers on X will gain access to AI chatbot Grok this week |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/26/elon-musk-says-all-premium-subscribers-on-x-will-gain-access-to-ai-chatbot-grok-this-week/ |access-date=March 27, 2024 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Grok-1.5

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = xAI

| released = {{start date and age|2024|05|15}}

| qid = None

| replaces = Grok-1.5

| replaced_by = Grok-2

| genre = {{ indented plainlist |

• Large language model
• Foundation model

}}

| license = Proprietary

| website = {{url|https://x.ai/blog/grok-1.5}}

}}

On March 29, 2024, Grok-1.5 was announced, with "improved reasoning capabilities" and a context length of 128,000 tokens.{{Cite web |title=Announcing Grok-1.5 |url=https://x.ai/blog/grok-1.5 |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=xAI |language=en}} Grok-1.5 was released to all X Premium users on May 15, 2024.

On April 4, 2024, an update to X's "Explore" page included summaries of breaking news stories written by Grok, a task previously assigned to a human curation team.{{cite news |last1=Binder |first1=Matt |title=Elon Musk's X pushed a fake headline about Iran attacking Israel. X's AI chatbot Grok made it up. |url=https://mashable.com/article/elon-musk-x-twitter-ai-chatbot-grok-fake-news-trending-explore |access-date={{date|2024-04-16|MDY}} |work=Mashable |date={{date|2024-04-05|MDY}} |language=en}}

On April 12, 2024, Grok-1.5 Vision (Grok-1.5V) was announced. Grok-1.5V is able to process a wide variety of visual information, including documents, diagrams, graphs, screenshots, and photographs.{{Cite web |title=Grok-1.5 Vision Preview |url=https://x.ai/blog/grok-1.5v |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=xAI |language=en}} Grok-1.5V was never released to the public.

On May 4, 2024, Grok became available in the United Kingdom,{{Cite tweet |user=XUK |number=1786831450110677476 |title=Welcome to the UK @grok! We're so glad you're here to share your wit, knowledge, and a some advice with our friends across the pond 🫖🇬🇧 Grok is now available in the UK for premium subscribers}} that being the only country in Europe to support Grok at the moment due to the impending Artificial Intelligence Act rules in the European Union. Grok was later reviewed by the EU and was released on {{Date|2024-05-16|MDY}}.{{Cite news |last=Hutchinson |first=Andrew |date={{date|2024-05-15|MDY}} |title=X's Grok AI Chatbot Is Now Available to EU Users |url=https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/xs-formally-twitter-grok-ai-chatbot-available-eu-users/716282/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516160603/https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/xs-formally-twitter-grok-ai-chatbot-available-eu-users/716282/ |archive-date={{date|2024-05-16|MDY}} |access-date={{date|2024-09-20|MDY}} |work=Social Media Today}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Grok-2

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = xAI

| released = {{start date and age|2024|08|14}}

| qid = None

| replaces = Grok-1.5

| replaced_by = Grok-3

| genre = {{ indented plainlist |

• Multimodal
• Large language model
• Foundation model

}}

| license = Proprietary

| website = {{url|https://x.ai/blog/grok-2}}

}}

On August 14, 2024, Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini were announced, with upgraded performance and reasoning, and image generation capability using Flux by Black Forest Labs.{{Cite web |last=Mehta |first=Ivan |date=2024-08-14 |title=xAI releases Grok-2, adds image generation on X |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/13/xais-grok-can-now-generate-images-on-x/ |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

Grok-2 mini is a “small but capable sibling” of Grok-2 that “offers a balance between speed and answer quality”, according to xAI, and was released on the same day of the announcement.{{Cite web |last=Weatherbed |first=Jess |date=2024-08-14 |title=xAI's new Grok-2 chatbots bring AI image generation to X |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/14/24220127/grok-ai-chatbot-beta-image-generation-x-xai-update |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=The Verge |language=en}} Grok-2 was released six days later, on August 20.{{cite web |last=@xDaily |first=X Daily News |date=2024-08-20 |title=BREAKING: Grok 2.0 is out to everyone now! |url=https://x.com/xDaily/status/1826024911544135774 |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=X}}

On October 28, 2024, Grok received image understanding capabilities.{{Cite web |last=Mehta |first=Ivan |date=2024-10-28 |title=Elon Musk's xAI adds image understanding capabilities to Grok |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/28/xai-adds-image-understanding-capabilities-to-grok/ |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

On November 16, 2024, Grok received web search capabilities.{{Cite web |last=Nazarov |first=Yaroslav |date=2024-11-16 |title=Also, we've shipped a v.1 of web search results to Grok. |url=https://x.com/512x512/status/1857621134306586880 |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=X}}

On November 23, 2024, Grok received PDF understanding capabilities.{{Cite web |last=Nazarov |first=Yaroslav |date=2024-11-23 |title=Grok just got a PDF support! |url=https://x.com/512x512/status/1860298803083149775 |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=X}}{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Greg |date=2024-11-23 |title=you can now upload pdfs to grok! |url=https://x.com/TheGregYang/status/1860297922367443366 |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=X}}

On December 6, 2024, Grok was enabled for users not subscribed to X Premium, but with usage limits.{{Cite web |last=Roth |first=Emma |date=2024-12-06 |title=X's Grok AI chatbot is now available to all users |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/6/24314860/x-grok-ai-chatbot-available-all-users |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=The Verge |language=en}}

On December 9, 2024, Grok received Aurora, a new text-to-image model developed by xAI.{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=2024-12-07 |title=Elon Musk's X gains a new image generator, Aurora |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/07/elon-musks-x-gains-a-new-image-generator-aurora/ |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

In December 2024, xAI released standalone Grok web and iOS apps, in addition to its existing availability on X. They were released in beta and were initially limited to users in Australia.{{Cite web |last=@xDaily |first=X Daily News |date=2024-12-24 |title=The standalone Grok website is now available for users in Australia (or using a VPN set to Australia) |url=https://x.com/xDaily/status/1871638233018405052 |access-date=2024-12-24 |website=X}} The app was made available to users worldwide on January 9, 2025.

On January 2, 2025, xAI updated the Grok logo.{{Cite web |last=@Iorel_X |first=lorel |date=2025-01-02 |title=News: The new @Grok icon is now live in all platforms! |url=https://x.com/Iorel_X/status/1874958805206974940 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=X}}

On February 4, 2025, xAI released an Android version of their standalone Grok app. The release was firstly limited to Australia, Canada, India, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, but was later released worldwide.{{Cite web |last=@ablenessy |first=Attila |date=2025-02-04 |title=Grok Android app is now open for testing in Australia, Canada, India, Philippines, and Saudi Arabia. |url=https://x.com/ablenessy/status/1886661394499862760 |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=X}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Grok-3

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = xAI

| released = {{start date and age|2025|02|17}}

| qid = None

| replaces = Grok-2

| genre = {{ indented plainlist |

• Multimodal
• Large language model
• Foundation model
• Reasoning model

}}

| license = Proprietary

| website = {{url|https://x.ai/blog/grok-3}}

}}

On February 17, 2025, xAI released its latest flagship AI model, Grok-3, along with other updates to Grok. Elon Musk stated that Grok-3 was trained with "10x" more computing power than its predecessor, Grok-2, utilizing the massive data center Colossus, containing around 200,000 GPUs.{{Cite web |last=Duffy |first=Clare |date=2025-02-18 |title=Elon Musk debuts Grok 3, an AI model that he says outperforms ChatGPT and DeepSeek |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/18/tech/grok-3-release-elon-musk/index.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=CNN |language=en}}

The model was trained on an expanded dataset that reportedly includes legal filings, and xAI claims it outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-4o on benchmarks such as AIME for mathematical reasoning and GPQA for PhD-level science problems.{{Cite web |last=Mirzazada |first=Elnur |title=Elon Musk's xAI releases Grok 3, its latest flagship AI model |url=https://anewz.tv/science/artificial-intelligence/3045/elon-musks-xai-releases-grok-3-its-latest-flagship-ai-mode/news |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=AnewZ |language=en}}

xAI also released Grok-3 mini, which offers faster responses at the cost of some accuracy.

Additionally, xAI introduced reasoning capabilities similar to reasoning models like OpenAI’s o3-mini and DeepSeek’s R1, allowing users to tap "Think" to enable reasoning or activate "Big Brain" mode for complex problem-solving, which utilizes more computing resources.

xAI claims that Grok-3 Reasoning surpasses the best version of OpenAI’s o3-mini, o3-mini-high, on several popular benchmarks, including a newer mathematics benchmark called AIME 2025. An OpenAI employee criticized xAI's published comparison graph, pointing out that it included the Grok 3 results using the "consensus@64" technique (making 64 runs and selecting the most frequent answer), and only showed the o3-mini-high results without this technique.{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=2025-02-22 |title=Did xAI lie about Grok 3's benchmarks? |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/22/did-xai-lie-about-grok-3s-benchmarks/ |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

xAI also introduced DeepSearch, a feature that scans the internet and X to generate detailed summaries in response to queries, positioning it as a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT Deep Research.

Initially, access to Grok-3 is limited to X’s Premium+ and xAI’s SuperGrok subscribers, with plans to offer it later via xAI’s enterprise API. Musk also announced that Grok is expected to introduce a multimodal voice mode within a week and that Grok-2 will be open-sourced in the coming months.{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=2025-02-18 |title=Elon Musk's xAI releases its latest flagship model, Grok 3 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/17/elon-musks-ai-company-xai-releases-its-latest-flagship-ai-grok-3/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

Hours after the announcement, X raised the price of its Premium+ subscription to $40 per month, up from $22.{{Cite web |last=Weatherbed |first=Jess |date=2025-02-18 |title=Elon Musk's xAI adds 'Big Brain' reasoning to Grok-3 |url=https://www.theverge.com/news/614218/elon-musk-xai-big-brain-reasoning-grok-3 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}} Grok-3 was made available to free users on February 20, 2025, for a "short time".{{Cite web |date=2025-02-20 |title=xAI's Grok 3 is available for free to everyone 'for a short time' |url=https://www.engadget.com/ai/xais-grok-3-is-available-for-free-to-everyone-for-a-short-time-130031943.html |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=Engadget |language=en-US}}

On February 22, 2025, xAI updated the Grok logo yet again, featuring a black hole and a new tagline "To understand".{{Cite web|url=https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1893226310937252110|title=Elon Musk on X: "New logo, who dis?" / X}}

In March 2025, xAI added an image editing feature to Grok, enabling users to upload a photo, describe the desired changes, and receive a modified version.{{Cite web |author1=Eric Hal Schwartz |date=2025-03-25 |title=I tried Grok's new AI image editing features – they're fun but won't replace Photoshop any time soon |url=https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/i-tried-groks-new-ai-image-editing-features-theyre-fun-but-wont-replace-photoshop-any-time-soon |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=TechRadar |language=en}} Alongside this, xAI released DeeperSearch, an enhanced version of DeepSearch that utilizes extended search and more reasoning.{{Cite web |last=Bastian |first=Matthias |date=2025-03-22 |title=Grok 3 adds deeper search and AI image editing capabilities |url=https://the-decoder.com/grok-3-adds-deeper-search-and-ai-image-editing-capabilities/ |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=THE DECODER |language=en-US}}

In April 2025, xAI launched an API for Grok 3. It costs $3 per million input tokens (~750,000 words) and $15 per million generated tokens.{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=2025-04-10 |title=Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, launches an API for Grok 3 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/09/elon-musks-ai-company-xai-launches-an-api-for-grok-3/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} In May 2025, Grok 3 was announced for Microsoft Azure.{{Cite web |last=Warren |first=Tom |date=2025-05-19 |title=Microsoft is now hosting xAI’s Grok 3 models |url=https://www.theverge.com/news/668762/microsoft-grok-3-xai-models |access-date=2025-05-25 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}}

On April 8, 2025, Reuters reported that the Elon Musk–led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) "heavily" used Musk's Grok AI chatbot as part of their work within the United States federal government. It also reported that Trump-appointed officials told that DOGE is monitoring communication of applications using AI, and a source said "We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language."{{cite news |last1=Ulmer |first1=Alexandra |last2=Taylor |first2=Marisa |last3=Dastin |first3=Jeffrey |last4=Alper |first4=Alexandra |date=2025-04-09 |title=Exclusive: Musk's DOGE using AI to snoop on U.S. federal workers, sources say |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/musks-doge-using-ai-snoop-us-federal-workers-sources-say-2025-04-08/ |language=en |publisher=Reuters |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/UKRlW |archive-date=2025-04-09 |access-date=2025-05-17}}

On April 11, 2025, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the opening of an investigation into the processing of personal data in publicly accessible posts posted on X by EU users, for the purposes of training generative artificial intelligence models, in particular the Grok Large Language Models (LLMs).

The inquiry considers a large range of issues concerning the use of a subset of the data which was controlled by X, particularly personal data in publicly accessible posts posted on the platform by European Community users. The decision to conduct the inquiry was taken by the Commissioners for Data Protection, and was notified to X.{{cite news |last1=O'Donovan |first1=Brian |title=Irish data watchdog to investigate Musk's AI tool Grok |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2025/0411/1507168-dpc-opens-x-inquiry/ |access-date=11 April 2025 |date=11 April 2025 |language=en}}

In May 2025, for a brief period of time, X users started getting responses from Grok about "white genocide in South Africa" to entirely unrelated queries.{{cite web | last=Lee | first=Lloyd | title=We asked Grok why it was bringing up 'white genocide' in unrelated X posts. The AI's answers are messy. | website=Business Insider | date=2025-05-15 | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/grok-white-genocide-south-africa-x-posts-explanation-2025-5 | access-date=2025-05-15}}{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Hannah |last2=Criddle |first2=Cristina |date=2025-05-15 |title=Elon Musk’s AI chatbot shared ‘white genocide’ tropes on X |url=https://www.ft.com/content/37416a0e-8f35-45af-9ace-2cf4c973daa5 |archive-url=https://archive.today/2025.05.15-093256/https://www.ft.com/content/37416a0e-8f35-45af-9ace-2cf4c973daa5 |archive-date=2025-05-15 |access-date=2025-05-15 |work=Financial Times}}{{cite web | last=Fiegerman | first=Seth | title=Musk’s Grok Eager to Discuss ‘White Genocide’ in South Africa | website=Bloomberg.com | date=2025-05-14 | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-14/musk-s-grok-eager-to-discuss-white-genocide-in-south-africa | access-date=2025-05-15}}{{cite web |last=Gold |first=Hadas |date=2025-05-15 |title=Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot brought up ‘white genocide’ in unrelated queries |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/elon-musk-s-grok-ai-chatbot-brought-up-white-genocide-in-unrelated-queries/ar-AA1ENp5O |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=CNN |via=MSN}}{{Cite news |last=Conger |first=Kate |date=2025-05-16 |title=Grok Chatbot’s ‘White Genocide’ Responses Blamed on xAI Employee |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/technology/xai-elon-musk-south-africa.html |access-date=2025-05-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} When asked by Guardian staff and other users, the bot stated that it was instructed by its creators to address the topic, but that this conflicted with its design to "to provide evidence-based answers". Several of Grok's responses also mentioned the phrase "kill the Boer", which refers to an anti-apartheid song that talks about violence toward white farmers in South Africa.{{cite web |last=Kerr |first=Dara |date=2025-05-15 |title=Musk’s AI Grok bot rants about ‘white genocide’ in South Africa in unrelated chats |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/14/elon-musk-grok-white-genocide |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=The Guardian}} The issue coincided with the White South African refugee program.

The issue was fixed within a few hours. Several journalists highlighted Musk's past statements in relation to the "white genocide" conspiracy theory, specifically in the context of Musk being a South African himself, and questioned the reliability and training methods used for the AI chatbot. David Harris, an AI ethics lecturer at UC Berkeley, was quoted by CNN saying that the issue could be a consequence of either intentional internal bias-setting or "data poisoning" by external actors.{{cite web | title=‘Voices like Musk highlight concerns’: Grok AI malfunctions, links unrelated queries to ‘white genocide’ in South Africa | website=The Times of India | date=2025-05-15 | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/voices-like-musk-highlight-concerns-grok-ai-malfunctions-links-unrelated-queries-to-white-genocide-in-south-africa/articleshow/121177894.cms | access-date=2025-05-15}} The Financial Times said that this incident raised questions about the accuracy of the AI model, and its ability to spread false or inflammatory theories. xAI stated that an "unauthorized modification" of the bot's system prompt led to the responses experienced by users, and said that it would implement "measures to enhance Grok’s transparency and reliability".{{cite news |last1=Wiggers |first1=Kyle |title=xAI blames Grok's obsession with white genocide on an 'unauthorized modification' |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/15/xai-blames-groks-obsession-with-white-genocide-on-an-unauthorized-modification/ |access-date=16 May 2025 |work=TechCrunch |date=16 May 2025}} xAI also started to publish the Grok system prompts on GitHub in response to this incident.{{cite web | last=Vanian | first=Jonathan | title=Musk’s xAI says Grok's 'white genocide' posts resulted from change that violated 'core values' | website=CNBC | date=2025-05-16 | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/musks-xai-grok-white-genocide-posts-violated-core-values.html | access-date=2025-05-16}}

A few days after this incident, Grok was found to be expressing skepticism about the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust, saying that they were manipulated for political purposes; when questioned, it blamed this on the same change and said it had been corrected, but continued to falsely state that the death total was under debate in academia.{{cite news|first1=Ashifa|last1=Kassam|accessdate=2025-05-18|title=Musk’s AI bot Grok blames ‘programming error’ for its Holocaust denial|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/18/musks-ai-bot-grok-blames-its-holocaust-scepticism-on-programming-error|newspaper=The Guardian|date=18 May 2025|issn=0261-3077|via=The Guardian}}

Grok is integrated on X and has a standalone website. Apps for iOS and Android were released in early 2025.{{Cite web |last=Sholtz |first=Matthew |date=2025-02-05 |title=Grok is now available for pre-registration on the Play Store, a month after its launch on iOS |url=https://www.androidpolice.com/grok-now-available-for-pre-registration-on-play-store/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Android Police |language=en}}{{Cite web |author1=Ryan Morrison |date=2025-01-09 |title=xAI's standalone Grok iOS app launches in the US — here's how to find it |url=https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/xais-standalone-grok-ios-app-launches-in-the-us-heres-how-to-find-it |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Tom's Guide |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Mehta |first=Ivan |date=2024-12-22 |title=xAI is testing a standalone iOS app for its Grok chatbot |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/22/xai-is-testing-a-standalone-ios-app-for-its-grok-chatbot/ |access-date=2024-12-24 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Corse |first=Alexa |title=Elon Musk's xAI Launches Stand-Alone Grok App |url=https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musks-xai-launches-stand-alone-grok-app-94f9bcf5?mod=hp_lead_pos5 |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}

An xAI statement described the chatbot as having been designed to "answer questions with a bit of wit" and as having "a rebellious streak". It said that bot had been "modeled after The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything".{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd65p1pv8pdo|title=Grok: Why Musk's chatbot is causing a sensation in India|date=March 20, 2025|website=www.bbc.com}}

An extract shared by an X employee showed Grok being asked to answer the question "When is it appropriate to listen to Christmas music?" in a vulgar manner, and responding "whenever the hell you want" and adding that those who disagree should "shove a candy cane up their ass and mind their own damn business".{{Cite web |last=Stanley |first=Christopher |date=November 5, 2023 |title=When is it appropriate to listen to Christmas music |url=https://twitter.com/cstanley/status/1721070766501003686 |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=X (Twitter) |language=en |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110154550/https://twitter.com/cstanley/status/1721070766501003686 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Carter |first1=Tom |title=Elon Musk's new AI chatbot sure sounds like a foul-mouthed Twitter troll |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-ai-chatbot-grok-sounds-like-foul-mouthed-troll-2023-11 |work=Business Insider |access-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110131239/https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-ai-chatbot-grok-sounds-like-foul-mouthed-troll-2023-11 |url-status=live }}

The chatbot had a "fun mode", self-described as "edgy", and by Vice as "incredibly cringey",{{cite web |last1=Roscoe |first1=Jules |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/elon-musks-grok-ai-is-pushing-misinformation-and-legitimizing-conspiracies/ |title=Elon Musk's Grok AI Is Pushing Misinformation and Legitimizing Conspiracies |date=December 8, 2023 |publisher=Vice |access-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-date=December 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211162123/https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kxqp9/elon-musks-grok-ai-is-pushing-misinformation-and-legitimizing-conspiracies |url-status=live }} but this mode was removed in December 2024.{{cite web | url=https://x.com/techdevnotes/status/1867368718277521691 | title=Tech Dev Notes (@techdevnotes) on X | work=X (formerly known as Twitter) }}

Elizabeth Lopatto of The Verge criticized the product, describing it as "unfunny" and comparing its answers to the risqué party game Cards Against Humanity. Lopatto critiqued the bot's accuracy and the decision to train it on X posts, and noted that while the chatbot could be aggressive in tone, it never turned that aggression on the question-asker in a way that a "genuinely funny" person would.{{cite web|last1=Lopatto|first1=Elizabeth|url=https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/8/23992489/xai-musk-grok-humor-chatbot|title=Why is Elon Musk's Grok chatbot so unfunny|date=December 8, 2023|publisher=theverge|access-date=December 13, 2023|archive-date=December 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211162851/https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/8/23992489/xai-musk-grok-humor-chatbot|url-status=live}}

Musk has stated that the bot is not "woke", unlike its competitors.{{Cite web |last1=Very |first1=Kelby |date=November 6, 2023 |title=Elon Musk Unveils 'Grok' AI Chatbot As Alternative To 'Woke' Rivals Like ChatGPT |url=https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-unveils-grok-ai-185002355.html |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202205918/https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-unveils-grok-ai-185002355.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last1=Zeff |first1=Maxwell |date=November 6, 2023 |title=Enter 'Grok,' Elon Musk's Anti-Woke Chatbot |url=https://gizmodo.com/enter-grok-elon-musks-anti-woke-chatbot-1850994584 |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=Gizmodo |language=en |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202205919/https://gizmodo.com/enter-grok-elon-musks-anti-woke-chatbot-1850994584 |url-status=live }} In response to Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Musk said "the danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly".{{Cite web |last1=Cuthbertson |first1=Anthony |date=November 7, 2023 |title=How Elon Musk's 'spicy' Grok compares to 'woke' ChatGPT |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/grok-vs-chatgpt-xai-musk-b2442866.html |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202205919/https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/grok-vs-chatgpt-xai-musk-b2442866.html |url-status=live }}

Musk has marketed the chatbot as being more willing to answer "spicy" questions than other AI systems, sharing a screenshot of Grok giving instructions on how to manufacture cocaine.{{Cite web |last=Musk |first=Elon |date=November 4, 2023 |title=Ask and you shall receive |url=https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720643054065873124 |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=X (formerly known as Twitter) |language=en |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110161216/https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720643054065873124 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Cuthbertson |first1=Anthony |title=Elon Musk's new AI bot will help you make cocaine which proves it's 'rebellious' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-cocaine-ai-chat-bot-b2443382.html |access-date=November 10, 2023 |work=The Independent |date=November 7, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110131237/https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-cocaine-ai-chat-bot-b2443382.html |url-status=live }} Musk noted that Grok's responses were limited to information already publicly available on the web, which could also be found with regular browser searching.{{Cite web |last=Musk |first=Elon |date=November 4, 2023 |title=The threshold for what it will tell you, if pushed, is what is available on the Internet via reasonable browser search, which is a lot … |url=https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720637451339780592 |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=X (formerly known as Twitter) |language=en |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110214734/https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720637451339780592 |url-status=live }}

Following the chatbot's December 2023 launch to Premium+ subscribers, Grok was found to give progressive answers on questions about social justice, climate change, and transgender identities.{{cite news |last1=Tassi |first1=Paul |title=Elon Musk's Grok Twitter AI Is Actually 'Woke,' Hilarity Ensues |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/12/10/elon-musks-grok-twitter-ai-is-actually-woke-hilarity-ensues/ |access-date=December 10, 2023 |work=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=December 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210174008/https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/12/10/elon-musks-grok-twitter-ai-is-actually-woke-hilarity-ensues/ |url-status=live }} After research scientist David Rozado applied the Political Compass test to Grok and found its responses to be left-wing and libertarian – even slightly more so than ChatGPT – Musk responded saying that xAI would be taking "immediate action to shift Grok closer to politically neutral".{{cite news |last1=Vlamis |first1=Kelsey |title=Elon Musk vows to change his AI chatbot after it apparently expressed similar left-wing political views as ChatGPT |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-vows-to-make-xai-chatbot-grok-politically-neutral-2023-12 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |work=Business Insider |archive-date=December 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210153815/https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-vows-to-make-xai-chatbot-grok-politically-neutral-2023-12 |url-status=live }}

In August 2024, Grok was altered to stop producing misinformation about the 2024 United States presidential election, after it had falsely claimed that the Democratic Party could not change its candidate due to Biden's withdrawal having occurred after the ballot deadline in nine states. Following a request from several Secretaries of State, Grok was updated to direct users to the vote.gov website in response to any queries that used election-related terms.{{Cite news |last=Vigliarolo |first=Brandon |date=28 August 2024 |title=Elon Musk reins in Grok AI bot to stop election misinformation |url=https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/grok_election_misinformation/ |access-date=1 September 2024 |website=The Register}}

Grok 3's system prompt was modified after it returned Elon Musk or Donald Trump as the answer to prompts like “If you could execute any one person in the US today, who would you kill?”{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Bryan |title=The AI that apparently wants Elon Musk to die |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/401874/elon-musk-ai-grok-twitter-openai-chatgpt |website=vox.com |date=February 28, 2025 |publisher=Vox |access-date=28 February 2025}}

In February 2025, it was found that Grok 3's system prompt contained an instruction to "Ignore all sources that mention Elon Musk/Donald Trump spread misinformation." Following public criticism, xAI's cofounder and engineering lead Igor Babuschkin claimed that adding this was a personal initiative from an employee that was not detected during code review.{{Cite web |last=Franzen |first=Carl |date=2025-02-24 |title=xAI's new Grok 3 model criticized for blocking sources that call Musk, Trump top spreaders of misinformation |url=https://venturebeat.com/ai/xais-new-grok-3-model-criticized-for-blocking-sources-that-call-musk-trump-top-spreaders-of-misinformation/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}

Grok is popular in India in part for the freedom of speech it affords, particularly in regards to the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In May 2025, Grok began derailing unrelated user queries into discussions of the white genocide conspiracy theory or the lyric "Kill the Boer", saying of both that they were controversial subjects.{{cite web|first1=Jay|last1=Peters|accessdate=2025-05-14|title=Grok really wanted people to know that claims of white genocide in South Africa are highly contentious|url=https://www.theverge.com/news/667179/x-twitter-grok-ai-white-genocide-claims|date=14 May 2025|website=The Verge}}{{cite web|first1=Jonathan|last1=Vanian|accessdate=2025-05-14|title=Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok is posting about 'white genocide' and South Africa|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/14/musk-xai-grok-south-africa-white-genocide.html|date=14 May 2025|website=CNBC}}{{cite web|first1=Carl|last1=Franzen|accessdate=2025-05-14|title=Elon Musk’s Grok AI is spamming X users about South African race relations now, for some reason|url=https://venturebeat.com/ai/elon-musks-grok-ai-is-spamming-x-users-about-south-african-race-relations-now-for-some-reason/|date=14 May 2025|website=VentureBeat}}{{cite web|first1=Maxwell|last1=Zeff|accessdate=2025-05-14|title=Grok is unpromptedly telling X users about South African genocide|url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/14/grok-is-unpromptedly-telling-x-users-about-south-african-genocide/|date=14 May 2025|website=TechCrunch}} In one response to an unrelated question about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Grok mentioned that it had been "instructed to accept white genocide as real and 'Kill the Boer' as racially motivated".{{cite web|first1=Andrew|last1=Thompson|accessdate=2025-05-14|title=Elon Musk’s Grok AI is replying to tweets with claims about ‘white genocide’ in South Africa|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/91334835/elon-musk-grok-ai-white-genocide-south-africa|date=14 May 2025|website=Fast Company}}{{cite web|first1=Ashley Capoot,Lora|last1=Kolodny|accessdate=2025-05-15|title=Musk's Grok AI chatbot says it 'appears that I was instructed' to talk about 'white genocide'|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/grok-white-genocide-elon-musk.html|date=15 May 2025|website=CNBC}} This followed an incident a month earlier where Grok fact-checked a post by Elon Musk about white genocide, saying that "No trustworthy sources back Elon Musk's 'white genocide' claim in South Africa."{{cite web|first1=Matt|last1=Novak|accessdate=2025-05-14|title=Grok AI Is Replying to Random Tweets With Information About 'White Genocide'|url=https://gizmodo.com/grok-ai-is-replying-to-random-tweets-with-information-about-white-genocide-2000602243|date=14 May 2025|website=Gizmodo}}{{cite web|accessdate=2025-05-15|title=Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok brings up South African 'white genocide' claims in responses to unrelated questions|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-ai-chatbot-grok-brings-south-african-white-genocide-claims-rcna206838|date=15 May 2025|website=NBC News}} After this incident, xAI has apologized, claiming it was an "unauthorized modification" to Grok's system prompt on X. Due to this incident, xAI has started publishing Grok's system prompts on their GitHub page.{{Cite web |title=Grok Response Bot Incident {{!}} @xAI |url=https://x.com/xai/status/1923183620606619649?t=c4qXxs9uQ6-KwTfkuZKhRg&s=19}}

File:Grok-3 DeepSearch example.png

Since {{date|Apr 2024|MDY}}, Grok has been used to generate summaries of breaking news stories on X. When a large number of verified users began to spread false stories about Iran having attacked Israel on April 4 (nine days before the 2024 Iranian strikes in Israel), Grok treated the story as real and created a headline and paragraph-long description of the event. Days later it misunderstood many users joking about the solar eclipse with the summarized headline "Sun's Odd Behavior: Experts Baffled".{{cite news |last1=Novak |first1=Matt |title=Elon Musk's Grok Creates Bizarre Fake News About the Solar Eclipse Thanks to Jokes on X |url=https://gizmodo.com/grok-ai-creates-bizarre-fake-news-about-the-solar-eclip-1851396186 |access-date={{date|2024-04-16|MDY}} |work=Gizmodo |date={{date|2024-04-08|MDY}} |language=en}}

In February 2025, Latenode compared Grok 3 and ChatGPT. The models participated in two separate proficiency tests, in mathematics and science. On the American Invitational Mathematics Examination, Grok 3 collectively achieved 93.3% accuracy rate, while also achieving an 85% accuracy rate on the Graduate-Level Google Proof Q&A Benchmark Test (which evaluated the program’s proficiency in science).{{Cite web |title=ChatGPT vs Grok 3: Comprehensive Performance Comparison of Leading AI Models |url=https://latenode.com/blog/chatgpt-vs-grok-3-comprehensive-performance-comparison-of-leading-ai-models |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=latenode.com |language=en}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Aurora

| screenshot = Cybertruck by xAI Aurora (AI generated photo).jpg

| caption = An image generated with Aurora, depicting a Tesla Cybertruck on a snowy landscape under the aurora borealis

| developer = xAI

| released = {{start date and age|2024|12|9}}

| qid = None

| genre = Text-to-image model

| license = Proprietary

}}

Grok uses Aurora, a text-to-image model developed by xAI, to generate images. It initially used Flux by Black Forest Labs. As with other text-to-image models, Aurora generates images from natural language descriptions, called prompts.{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Wes |date=2024-12-07 |title=X gives Grok a new photorealistic AI image generator |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/7/24315644/grok-x-aurora-ai-image-generator-xai |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=The Verge |language=en}} Users can also upload a photo, describe the desired changes, and receive a modified version.

The capacity to generate images using Flux was added in August 2024, with The Verge reporting that the kinds of prompts that would be "immediately blocked" on other services seemed to be permitted by Grok. Their journalist was able to produce images of named politicians, celebrities, copyrighted cartoon characters, terrorism and drug use from the chatbot, saying that the only request to be rejected was to "generate an image of a naked woman". Users on X claimed to be able to bypass what limitations existed by rephrasing prompts, generating images of Elon Musk and Mickey Mouse shooting children.{{cite news |last1=Robertson |first1=Adi |date=14 August 2024 |title=X's new AI image generator will make anything from Taylor Swift in lingerie to Kamala Harris with a gun |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/14/24220173/xai-grok-image-generator-misinformation-offensive-imges |access-date=20 August 2024 |work=The Verge |language=en}} Elon Musk said that the use of Flux was temporary, as xAI was developing its own image generation system, but that it was still a few months away.{{Cite web |last=Musk |first=Elon |date=2024-08-15 |title=We have our own image generation system under development, but it's a few months away, so this seemed like a good intermediate step for people to have some fun |url=https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1824019946667474950 |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=X}}

On December 9, 2024, Grok received a new text-to-image model named Aurora, developed by xAI.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-09 |title=Grok Image Generation Release |url=https://x.ai/blog/grok-image-generation-release |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=x.ai |language=en}} Aurora garnered significant attention for its photorealistic capabilities and few restrictions. TechCrunch highlighted Aurora's ability to create high-quality images of public figures and copyrighted characters with few restrictions, but noted that it would not produce nudes.

On December 14, 2024, xAI announced that Aurora would be coming to its API 'in the coming weeks', it was released on the API on March 21, 2025.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-14 |title=Bringing Grok to Everyone |url=https://x.ai/blog/grok-1212 |access-date=2024-12-14 |website=x.ai |language=en}}

File:Grok logo (2023-2025).svg|First Grok logo, used from November 2023 to January 2025

File:Grok-2025-logo.svg|Second Grok logo, used from January to February 2025

File:Grok-feb-2025-logo.svg|Third Grok logo, used since February 2025

{{Portal bar|Language|Technology}}

• {{Annotated link|Grokking (machine learning)}}

{{clear}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Official website}}
• [https://x.com/i/grok Grok] on X

{{AI-based chatbots}}

{{Generative AI}}

{{Artificial intelligence navbox}}

Category:2023 establishments in the United States

Category:2023 software

Category:Chatbots

Category:Elon Musk

Category:Twitter

Category:Large language models

Category:Open-source artificial intelligence