Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has just launched Grok 3, a new AI model that aims to bring new innovations in the field of artificial intelligence.
Released on Monday, Grok 3 has been in the works for months, with Musk optimistically aiming for a 2024 debut. The model comes with enhanced properties, including the ability to analyse images and respond to complex questions, and will support a range of new features on Elon Musk’s social network, X.
The company used a massive data centre in Memphis, built with around 200,000 GPUs, to power Grok 3’s development.
During a live-streamed presentation, Musk shared that Grok 3 was built with 10 times more computing power than its predecessor, Grok 2. This expanded infrastructure has enabled the model to process a vast training dataset, including court case filings.
Musk stated that Grok 3 is “an order of magnitude more capable than Grok 2,” making it a maximally truth-seeking AI, even if the truth contradicts politically correct narratives.
Notably, Grok 3 introduces two specialised models: Grok 3 Reasoning and Grok 3 mini Reasoning. These models are designed to perform deep reasoning tasks, making them suitable for tackling complex problems in mathematics, science, and programming.
The reasoning models are built with a “Big Brain” mode, which boosts their analytical power by using additional computing resources. Musk indicated that these models would help avoid common pitfalls encountered by AI systems that fail to fact-check themselves.
Grok 3 Reasoning has already outperformed other AI models, including OpenAI’s o3-mini-high, on various benchmarks such as AIME 2025, a new mathematics test.
Another feature of Grok 3 is DeepSearch, an AI-driven research tool that scans the internet and X for information, generating concise abstracts in response to user queries.
This tool will be available to Premium+ users of X, who can access Grok 3 for a monthly subscription fee of $50. For those looking to access even more features, a new SuperGrok plan, priced at $30 per month or $300 annually, will unlock additional reasoning and DeepSearch queries, along with unlimited image generation.
Musk also revealed plans to roll out voice capabilities for Grok 3 in the coming weeks, and enterprise access to the model will be available via xAI’s API. Despite all the advancements, Musk has promised to open-source Grok 2 shortly, once Grok 3 reaches a level of maturity.
However, hours after xAI launched Grok 3, Musk’s social platform, X, raised the price of its Premium+ subscription to $50 per month, an increase from the previous $22. This follows a series of price hikes for the Premium+ plan, which now includes exclusive access to Grok 3’s new features.
For some users, the new subscription price could more than double the previous cost, a move that has drawn mixed reactions. Some features of Grok 3, such as DeepSearch and advanced reasoning capabilities, will be placed behind an even more expensive SuperGrok tier.
While the new pricing structure shows the premium nature of the service, users wonder about the affordability and accessibility of these advanced AI features for the average user.
Again, there seems to be some inconsistency in pricing across the platform, with different pages listing different costs for the Premium+ plan.
