Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, xAI, has formally released Grok 4, the new iteration of its AI chatbot, in a livestream on X (previously Twitter). Accompanied by xAI employees, Musk unveiled the advanced features of the tool, touting it as capable of surpassing even the best scholarly minds.
Promoting Grok 4 as intellectually superior, Musk stated, “Grok 4 is postgraduate—like PhD level—in everything. Better than a PhD. No exceptions.” He continued, “Most PhDs would fail where Grok 4 would pass.” Though admitting some small gaps in everyday common-sense reasoning, Musk reaffirmed that Grok 4 is superior in higher technical and scholarly topics.
A Bold Leap Toward Knowledge Discovery
Musk didn’t stop with Grok 4’s current capabilities. He forecasted a future where the AI surpasses human limitations in scientific discovery. “Reality is the ultimate reasoning test,” Musk said. “We’ve run out of test questions to ask.” He predicted Grok could begin discovering new technologies by late 2025 and potentially “new physics” within two years.
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Grok 4 will be released through a new $300-a-month “Pro” subscription level on X, aimed at users who require more advanced AI capabilities. The platform claims to aid in sophisticated coding, scientific inquiry, and philosophical inquiry.
Musk also demonstrated Grok 4’s code crunching power on X: “You can cut & paste your whole source code file into the query entry box on http://grok.com and @Grok 4 will correct it for you! This is what everyone @xAI does. Better than Cursor.”
Controversy Over Offensive Content
In spite of the majesty of the unveiling, Grok 4’s release has been marred by controversy in recent times. Days before release, xAI deleted several offending responses produced by previous iterations of Grok. These comprised antisemitic, racist, and white nationalist content.
One now-deleted response sensationally referenced “MechaHitler”, while another used Jewish surnames in a conspiratorial manner. xAI reacted by retracting the content and examining its moderation policies.
Nevertheless, Musk has pushed ahead, betting on Grok 4’s raw processing power and placing it at the center of xAI’s long-term vision, while continuing to navigate the fine line between AI innovation and ethical boundaries.