Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly planning to launch a standalone app soon next month. xAI may be a latecomer to the artificial intelligence (AI) field, but it has made quick steps to bridge the gap. Over the past two months, the AI firm released a function-calling capability within its large language models (LLM), launched an application programming interface (API) for developers, and reportedly tested a free version of the AI model. doing. And now, a report claims that the company is planning to take on OpenAI with apps like ChatGPT.
Elon Musk’s xAI will reportedly get a standalone app
The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk aims to build Grok AI as an independent product. Citing people familiar with the matter, the publication claimed that xAI may soon launch a standalone chatbot app for Grok, similar to ChatGPT.
Currently, Grok AI can only be accessed through X (formerly known as Twitter) and is available to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers. Recently a report claimed that xAI is planning to release a free version of the AI model. A standalone app could be part of the same plan.
Plans for a new app with an API for developers point to Musk’s ambition to create new avenues of revenue generation through AI offerings. Notably, to lure developers, the company also announced incentives in the form of free tokens. The plan seems to be about making Grok accessible to more people and making other software and apps available powered by its capabilities.
The WSJ report also claims that Musk’s larger objective is to rival OpenAI and offer its products and services as a viable alternative to every niche occupied by ChatGPIT. However, Grok lacks many features like native image creation, voice support and agentic AI capabilities, something major rivals such as Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and others are already offering.
Musk’s rivalry with OpenAI is nothing new. Notably, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI earlier this year for violating its contract to remain non-profit. Chatgpt-creator responded to the allegations, calling them “baseless and exaggerated”.
The report also notes that xAI has two significant advantages over other AI chatbots. First, Grok has been trained specifically on public posts on X, which means the chatbot can converse in more natural language and has access to more up-to-date information than other LLMs. Second, Musk is using Tesla to train the xAI model.
However, whether these benefits translate into user adoption and revenue generation can only be predicted in the future.
