Trump’s tariff delay brings hope and confusion for trade partners and small firms
President Donald Trump’s postponement of a sweeping tariff deadline to 1 August has renewed hopes for trade deals with key partners, but left smalle...
February 23, 2025 – Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has launched its latest flagship AI model, Grok 3, unveiling new capabilities for its Grok iOS and web applications.
Grok 3, positioned as a competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini, offers enhanced reasoning capabilities and image analysis, further integrating with Musk’s social network, X.
Grok 3: enhanced AI capabilities
Grok 3 has been in development for months and was initially slated for release in 2024 but experienced delays. The model was trained using an enormous data center in Memphis containing approximately 200,000 GPUs. According to Musk, the new model was developed with “10x” more computing power than its predecessor, Grok 2, leveraging a more extensive training dataset, including legal filings.
“Grok 3 is an order of magnitude more capable than Grok 2,” Musk stated during a live-streamed presentation. “[It’s a] maximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct.”
Grok 3 model variants and features
The Grok 3 family includes multiple versions:
Grok 3 mini: Offers faster response times at the cost of some accuracy.
Grok 3 Reasoning & Grok 3 mini Reasoning: Designed to carefully “think through” problems, similar to OpenAI’s o3-mini and DeepSeek’s R1. These models aim to fact-check themselves before responding, improving accuracy.
Grok 3 is currently rolling out in phases, with some features still in beta. The new models reportedly outperform GPT-4o in AI benchmarks such as AIME (mathematics performance) and GPQA (graduate-level science questions). Additionally, xAI claims that Grok 3 Reasoning surpasses OpenAI’s o3-mini-high in mathematics assessments, including AIME 2025.
New capabilities: DeepSearch and Reasoning enhancements
The reasoning models power DeepSearch, xAI’s AI-powered research tool, which scans the internet and X to generate detailed abstracts in response to user queries. Users can activate Grok 3’s enhanced reasoning through:
“Think” mode: For complex questions requiring deeper analysis.
“Big Brain” mode: A high-compute setting designed for advanced problem-solving.
To prevent unauthorized knowledge extraction, xAI has partially obscured the reasoning models’ thought processes in the Grok app. This measure follows recent controversies, such as DeepSeek’s alleged distillation of OpenAI models.
Subscription tiers and upcoming features
Grok 3 will first be available to X Premium+ subscribers ($22/month), while advanced features will require a new SuperGrok plan, reportedly priced at $30/month or $300/year. This premium tier grants additional reasoning queries, DeepSearch access, and unlimited image generation.
Upcoming enhancements include:
Voice Mode (within a week): A synthesized voice for Grok models.
Enterprise API Access (within weeks): xAI will offer Grok 3 and DeepSearch via API for business integration.
Future Open-Source plans and political neutrality pledge
Musk announced that xAI intends to open-source Grok 2 in the coming months, following a pattern where previous models are made public once new versions become stable.
“When Grok 3 is mature and stable, which is probably within a few months, then we’ll open-source Grok 2,” Musk confirmed.
Grok was initially marketed as an “edgy” and “unfiltered” AI model that could answer controversial questions other models avoided. However, past versions hedged on political topics, with one study suggesting a left-leaning bias on issues such as transgender rights and diversity programs. Musk has attributed this to training data limitations and has pledged to shift Grok toward greater political neutrality. Whether xAI has achieved this goal remains unclear, but the company continues to push boundaries in AI development.
As Grok 3 rolls out, its real-world performance and reception will determine its place in the competitive AI landscape.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A deadly mass shooting early on Monday (7 July) in Philadelphia's Grays Ferry neighbourhood left three men dead and nine others wounded, including teenagers, as more than 100 shots were fired.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged stronger sanctions and defence support for Ukraine as the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia nears approval.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,500-year-old city in northern Peru that likely served as a key trade hub connecting ancient coastal, Andean, and Amazonian cultures.
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck off Japan’s Tokara Islands on Wednesday, with no tsunami warning issued but residents advised to remain vigilant.
A woman from Guadeloupe has become the only known person in the world with a newly discovered blood group, which French scientists have named “Gwada negative.”
Australian researchers have created a groundbreaking “biological AI” platform that could revolutionise drug discovery by rapidly evolving molecules within mammalian cells.
Matt Turnbull, executive producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing, faced criticism after a LinkedIn post recommending artificial intelligence tools to help employees deal with the emotional impact of job cuts.
A Chinese-made robot dog named Black Panther has reached a top speed of 10.3 metres per second (34 feet per second), setting a new world record for robotic dogs and approaching the speed of elite human sprinters, according to state media Xinhua News.
Australian-led research into ancient microbialite structures is revealing how early life thrived without sunlight, offering potential insights for future carbon capture strategies.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment