Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is preparing to launch a standalone app for its Grok AI chatbot, aiming to directly compete with OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT.
According to recent reports from The Wall Street Journal and The Verge, xAI is targeting a December launch for the new app, which would expand access to Grok beyond its current integration with X (formerly Twitter).
Since its launch in 2023, xAI has been positioning itself as an alternative to OpenAI, with Musk’s company offering AI-driven services such as customer support for Starlink and the Grok chatbot. While Grok has thus far been available only to premium users of X, this new app will make it more widely accessible, potentially drawing in users from Android and iOS platforms, similar to how OpenAI has rolled out ChatGPT on these devices.
The introduction of the standalone Grok app comes as xAI has seen a surge in value, recently reaching a $50 billion valuation—an impressive feat, especially as it now outstrips the value of X, which Musk purchased for $44 billion. Despite this, xAI’s worth still lags behind OpenAI, which was valued at $157 billion in October.
Currently, Grok is bundled with X’s premium subscriptions, with no free-tier option available. However, there are signs that xAI might introduce a free version of the chatbot in the future. Earlier this month, reports emerged that Grok’s free version had been tested in certain regions, including New Zealand. This version is available to users with accounts at least seven days old and who have linked a phone number, and it comes with usage limits—users can make up to 10 queries every two hours using the Grok-2 model, or 20 queries every two hours with the Grok-2 mini model. In addition, there are restrictions on image queries, with a daily limit of three for image analysis.
As Grok expands its capabilities, the chatbot is continuously being upgraded. The Grok-2 models, launched in August, incorporated new image-generation abilities, and by October, xAI introduced a feature allowing users to upload images and ask the chatbot questions about them. Musk has also confirmed that the company is working on adding document understanding features, which would allow Grok to retrieve information from files such as PDFs and Word documents, further enhancing its functionality.
With these developments, xAI appears poised to become a strong player in the competitive AI landscape, challenging established giants like OpenAI and Google’s Gemini in the rapidly evolving market for AI-driven tools and services. The launch of a standalone Grok app will mark a key step in Musk’s vision to reshape the AI industry while competing directly with the likes of ChatGPT.
