Elon Musk Unveils Grok 3 as AI Race Intensifies
AFP
New York: Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, unveiled the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 3, on Monday, aiming to compete in the rapidly evolving AI landscape alongside ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek.
Musk has promoted Grok 3 as a major advancement, boasting 10 times the computational power of its predecessor, which was released in August last year. The chatbot, trained on synthetic data, integrates self-correction mechanisms to minimize errors commonly known as “hallucinations” that have troubled other AI models.
“Grok 3 has very powerful reasoning capabilities. In our tests, it has outperformed anything released so far, to the best of our knowledge,” Musk said during a video call at the World Governments Summit in Dubai last week.
A Fierce AI Competition
The upgraded chatbot enters an increasingly competitive market, with companies across the globe striving to develop more sophisticated and cost-effective AI models.
Last month, Chinese startup DeepSeek made headlines with the release of its R1 chatbot, a high-quality yet low-cost model that directly challenges U.S. dominance in AI technology.
Grok 3 will also go head-to-head with ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI—pitting Musk against his former collaborator-turned-rival, Sam Altman.
Musk and Altman were both part of OpenAI’s founding team in 2015. Musk initially invested $45 million in the company, which aimed to counter Google’s AI dominance. However, he left OpenAI in 2018. The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 propelled OpenAI to global prominence, elevating Altman as a leading figure in AI.
Since then, their relationship has grown increasingly strained. Last week, OpenAI’s board rejected a Musk-led buyout offer reportedly worth nearly $100 billion.
Musk’s Expanding Influence in US Politics
Beyond AI, Musk has cemented his role as a key advisor in former US President Donald Trump’s new administration. As head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has spearheaded a drastic overhaul of federal agencies, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
Critics argue that Musk’s influence over AI regulations could directly benefit his business empire, which includes xAI, SpaceX, and Tesla.
Meanwhile, xAI is seeking new investments, with Bloomberg reporting that the company is in talks for a $10 billion funding round, which could value xAI at approximately $75 billion.
Musk launched xAI in July 2023, shortly after signing an open letter calling for a pause in the development of powerful AI models, citing concerns about their potential risks. Now, with Grok 3, he is once again at the center of the AI revolution.
Additional input from agencies.
