Today's most talked-about news in the tech world is the launch of the Grok-3 large model by xAI. It's said that this AI model possesses human-like thinking capabilities, with the key being its use of "chain-of-thought" technology. This allows it to break down complex tasks layer by layer, like peeling an onion, for deep analysis—somewhat similar to OpenAI's o3 and Deepseek-r1.
When talking about Grok-3, we can't ignore its creator, Elon Musk. He boldly claimed that Grok-3 is "the smartest AI on Earth," even adding that it's "scary smart." He believes Grok-3's reasoning abilities are exceptionally powerful, stating that no other AI model tested so far can match it.
The Grok series was launched by Musk in 2023 with a clear goal: to challenge OpenAI's ChatGPT. Grok-1 was released in November 2023, followed by Grok-2 in August 2024. This latest version, Grok-3, represents the newest upgrade in the series.
Speaking of OpenAI, it's a leader in the AI field today. There's also a notable history between OpenAI and Musk, which is partly why Grok came to be.
OpenAI was originally founded in 2015 in San Francisco by Sam Altman, Musk, and five others, with a collective investment of $1 billion. At that time, OpenAI and Musk were in a "honeymoon phase." It's said that Sam wanted to attract top talent with high salaries, and Musk fully supported this! Back then, joining OpenAI came with a $300,000 annual salary and SpaceX stock, making for a very attractive package.
OpenAI's initial vision was to be a non-profit organization, open-sourcing technology and developing AI for the benefit of humanity. However, it gradually shifted to a closed-source, for-profit company. This change didn't sit well with Musk, who felt OpenAI had lost its way and become a "subsidiary" of big corporations like Microsoft. Later, Musk was removed from the OpenAI board. Although he expressed willingness to continue investing, the rift had already formed, which is one reason he later created Grok.
In March 2019, OpenAI officially announced its transition from "non-profit" to "capped-profit," with profits limited to 100 times the investment. Musk publicly criticized OpenAI, accusing them of forgetting their original mission, focusing too much on profit, and overlooking the potential risks of AI. He sarcastically suggested they rename themselves "CloseAI."
On February 10 this year, Musk reportedly offered to acquire OpenAI for $97.4 billion, but was rejected. Sam Altman countered by claiming he would acquire Musk's Twitter. If Musk had succeeded in buying OpenAI, he likely would have open-sourced it, which would have been a significant boon for the entire AI industry.
In summary, the release of Grok-3 is a major event in the AI world. The ongoing saga between Musk and OpenAI adds an extra layer of intrigue to the AI community. As for how powerful Grok-3 really is, you can try it out for yourself!
Using Grok for Free on the Web
Official website: https://grok.com
Currently, the web chat feature is free and open to use without login or payment. However, due to certain restrictions, users in some regions may need to use a VPN to access it.
Using the Grok API
The API is compatible with the OpenAI SDK. Simply replace the API URL with https://api.x.ai/v1.
Then, create an API KEY on this page: https://console.x.ai.
Available models include: grok-2-latest, grok-2-vision-latest, and grok-3.