In August, Elon Musk’s xAI promised to make Grok, the corporate’s flagship generative AI mannequin powering a variety of options on X, obtainable through an API. Now, that API has arrived — albeit a bit bare-bones in the meanwhile.
The xAI API solely has a single mannequin, “grok-beta,” priced at $5 per million enter tokens (~750,000 phrases) or $15 per million output tokens. Tokens are subdivided bits of uncooked knowledge, just like the syllables “fan,” “tas,” and “tic” within the phrase “fantastic.”
It’s unclear which Grok mannequin “grok-beta” may be; Grok 2 is the very newest on X. The documentation for the API refers to Grok 2 and Grok mini, a light-weight and extra inexpensive model of Grok — so it may effectively be a technical difficulty.
Some customers on X additionally reported encountering issues paying for utilization credit.
The xAI API helps operate calling, which connects Grok fashions to exterior instruments corresponding to databases and engines like google. And, though they don’t look like dwell but, the documentation hints at imaginative and prescient fashions able to analyzing each textual content and pictures.
Musk fashioned xAI final 12 months. Quickly after, the corporate — which not too long ago moved into OpenAI’s previous workplaces — launched its first Grok mannequin on X to X Premium+ customers, who pay $16 a month.
Grok has what Musk has described as “a rebellious streak” — a willingness to reply “spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.” Instructed to be vulgar, for instance, Grok will fortunately oblige, spewing profanities and colourful language you received’t hear from ChatGPT.
Grok has grow to be more and more ingrained within the X expertise. Due to an integration with the open picture generator Flux, Grok can generate photographs on X (with out guardrails, controversially). It summarizes information and trending occasions (typically with errors, thoughts you), and it might improve X’s search capabilities, account bios, submit analytics, and reply capabilities sooner or later.
xAI is sprinting to catch as much as formidable opponents like OpenAI and Anthropic within the generative AI race. In Could, xAI raised $6 billion in a funding spherical led by traders together with Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Constancy.
Musk typically asserts that X’s knowledge provides xAI a considerable leg up in comparison with rivals. This month, X modified its privateness coverage to permit third events, together with xAI, to coach fashions on X posts.
As a part of the pitch for xAI’s $6 billion funding spherical, the startup additionally outlined a imaginative and prescient the place its fashions could be educated on knowledge from Musk’s varied firms, together with Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Firm, and its fashions may then enhance know-how throughout these firms.
Tesla shareholders, for one, weren’t on board with that plan. A number of sued Musk over the choice to begin xAI, arguing that Musk has diverted each expertise and sources from Tesla to what’s basically a competing enterprise.
Musk mentioned this summer season that xAI is coaching the subsequent era of Grok fashions at its Memphis datacenter, which has been accused of worsening smog with unauthorized generators. The corporate hopes to improve the datacenter subsequent 12 months, however will want approval from the Tennessee Valley Authority so as to take action.
