Elon Musk Debuts Grok-3 AI Chatbot to Rival OpenAI, DeepSeek
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI unveiled the updated Grok-3 model, presenting a chatbot technology that Musk claims to be the “smartest AI on Earth”. The company showcased Grok-3’s superiority across mathematics, science, and coding benchmarks, surpassing competitors such as Alphabet’s Google Gemini, DeepSeek’s V3 model, Anthropic’s Claude, and OpenAI’s GPT-4o. This announcement was made via a live stream on Monday.
Enhanced Compute Power and Training
Grok-3 boasts “more than 10 times” the compute power of its predecessor and underwent pre-training in early January. Musk, during a presentation alongside xAI engineers, highlighted the continuous improvement efforts, with enhancements becoming visible within 24 hours.
Introduction of DeepSearch
As part of the Grok-3 release, xAI introduced DeepSearch, a new smart search engine. DeepSearch is a reasoning chatbot that elaborates on its query comprehension process and response planning. It offers functionalities for research, brainstorming, and data analysis. The team also hinted at the upcoming launch of a voice-based chatbot.
Subscription Rollout
Grok-3 is being made available to Premium+ subscribers on X platform immediately. Additionally, xAI is launching a new subscription tier named SuperGrok for the chatbot's mobile app and Grok.com website. The company plans to open-source previous Grok models once the latest version reaches maturity, a transition expected to conclude in a few months.
Rivalry with OpenAI
The escalating rivalry between xAI and OpenAI has seen Musk making performance claims against the ChatGPT maker. Musk initiated legal actions against OpenAI, accusing the organization of deviating from its original principles. Despite a rejected acquisition bid, tensions between the two tech giants continue to rise.
Funding and Valuation
Both xAI and OpenAI have been rapidly raising funds, with xAI aiming for a $10 billion funding round that could value the company at approximately $75 billion. On the other hand, OpenAI is in discussions for a funding round that could value the company at up to $300 billion. These valuations underscore the capital-intensive nature of AI businesses.
Emerging Competitors
While established players like xAI and OpenAI dominate the AI landscape, new challengers are emerging. Chinese AI firm DeepSeek introduced an open-source AI model, R1, designed at a fraction of the cost of its US counterparts, showcasing potential disruption in the industry.
Sources: Bloomberg
