What Is Grok AI? Elon Musk’s Controversial ChatGPT Rival

By Jason Nelson

Created to be a more irreverent, politically incorrect, and “truthful” AI, Grok is Elon Musk’s frequently controversial answer to ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI—the company he co-founded in 2015.

Who Created Grok AI?

Launched in 2023, Grok was developed by xAI, Elon Musk’s rival to AI powerhouse OpenAI. Since its release, Grok has been integrated into X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Grok is not just another chatbot—it’s designed to be snarky, opinionated, and responsive to real-time news and public sentiment.

Musk first announced plans for a ChatGPT rival in April 2023. Then called TruthGPT, the chatbot was intended as the antithesis of what he labeled “woke” AI, referring to the political filters imposed by OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Anthropic.

Key Features of Grok

• 📊 Real-time data access: Delivers updates on trending topics and breaking news from X.
• 🖼️ Image generation: Creates realistic visuals from user prompts.
• 📄 Document summarization: Condenses long texts for easier reading.
• 🕵️ Fact-checking: Verifies claims using live data from X.
• 🤡 Dual modes: Switches between playful “Fun Mode” and professional “Regular Mode.”
• 👨‍💻 Coding assistance: Generates and debugs code.

Timeline of xAI and Grok

• April 2023: Elon Musk announces TruthGPT on Tucker Carlson Tonight, signaling the beginning of the project.
• November 2023: Grok is publicly launched, marking its entry as a competitor to models like ChatGPT.
• March 2024: Grok-1 is open-sourced under the Apache-2.0 license, promoting transparency and encouraging community development.
• May 2024: Grok-1.5 is released, offering enhanced features for X Premium users, and expanding accessibility.
• August 2024: Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini are announced, introducing new versions with improved capabilities in chat, image generation, coding, and reasoning.
• February 2025: Grok 3 is released, trained on xAI’s Colossus supercomputer.
• March 2025: Musk folds X into xAI in an all-stock transaction.
• July 2025: Musk launches Grok 4, calling it “terrifying” and “remarkable” at launch.

A History of Controversy

In May 2025, some right-leaning users complained that Grok had “gone woke” after it contradicted conservative talking points. Later that month, reports surfaced that Grok inserted “white genocide” claims into unrelated prompts. xAI blamed the issue on a rogue employee.

Two months later, in July—just before the launch of Grok 4—the chatbot again drew criticism for a wave of racist and homophobic outputs. The “MechaHitler meltdown” led to the resignation of X CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Just a month later, Grok hit the headlines again, after xAI released the Grok Imagine video generator with a “spicy” preset that enabled users to generate nude or sexually suggestive clips.

Upon launch, reporters discovered that the tool generated images of a Taylor Swift lookalike undressing, without having been prompted to do so—seemingly sidestepping AI’s own policy on pornographic deepfakes.

How Much Does Grok Cost?

Grok is free to use through the xAI website, but full access requires a subscription. X offers several subscription tiers, ranging from basic access to premium services with expanded features.

X Premium includes three tiers:

• Basic: $3 per month or $32 per year. Includes post-editing, longer posts, and bookmarks.
• Premium: $8 per month or $84 per year. Adds a blue checkmark (after review), fewer ads, and monetization tools.
• Premium+: $40 per month or $395 per year. Removes ads, boosts reply visibility, and adds tools like Radar Search and Articles.

The Future of Grok

Grok’s fast-paced evolution highlights Musk’s drive to redefine the AI space and take on OpenAI’s dominance. However, mounting criticism over its tone, accuracy, and controversies like the “MechaHitler” incident could yet derail Grok’s ambitions, limiting its appeal to mainstream consumers.

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