Elon Musk’s Grok 3 Launched: What’s So Special About It?

During a live demonstration event today, Elon Musk unveiled the latest version of his company’s AI assistant, Grok 3. The new AI model promises significantly improved capabilities over its predecessor and introduces several new features, including enhanced reasoning abilities and upcoming voice interaction.

Premium Users Get First Access to Grok 3

X Premium Plus subscribers can now access the Grok 3 beta by updating their X app. For users wanting the most advanced features, xAI introduced a separate “Super Grok” subscription that is available through both the mobile app and their new website: grok.com.

SuperGrok is priced at $30 per month, which includes DeepSearch queries unlimited image generation.

“We’re rolling out Grok 3 today, starting with Premium Plus subscribers on X, who will be the first group to get access,” Musk announced during the presentation.

Those seeking a more polished experience might want to wait about a week, as Musk noted daily improvements are being made to the system.

New Reasoning Capabilities Show Major Improvements

The standout feature of Grok 3 is its improved reasoning model. During the launch, xAI explained that reasoning in AI refers to models that carefully consider problems before attempting solutions. This reasoning power is similar to what powered OpenAI’s o-series models and DeepSeek’s R1.

Performance on Math Benchmark

To demonstrate its abilities, xAI tested both its larger and smaller models against the AIME 2025 competition, a challenging math exam for high school students. The results showed the larger Grok 3 reasoning model outperformed the smaller version.

“This indicates that the larger model has stronger generalization and capability compared to the smaller model,” according to the presentation.

Physics Problem Demonstration

During the launch event, Grok 3 generated an animated 3D plot showing a space trajectory from Earth to Mars and back after being given a simple prompt.

“When it comes to a physics problem, what we want Grok to do is plot a viable trajectory for a transfer from Earth to Mars and, later, a transfer back to Earth,” Musk explained.

One of the xAI staff members asked Musk when the AI assistant would be in a rocket and he replied in two years.

Massive Computing Infrastructure

Behind its capabilities is an enormous investment in computing power. xAI revealed they built their own data center in just four months, installing 100,000 GPUs. It will be powered by xAI’s Colossus supercomputer.

“It took us 122 days to get the first 100,000 GPUs up and running, which was a monumental effort. We believe it’s the largest fully connected H100 cluster of its kind,” the xAI team stated.

The company then doubled this capacity in just 92 days.

Coming Soon: Voice Interaction and AI Gaming

A voice interaction feature for Grok 3 is currently in development, allowing users to speak with the AI naturally.

“The goal is to make it so you can talk to it just like you would a person. I think it’s going to be one of the best experiences with Grok 3, but that should be about a week away,” Musk said.

Also, in a surprise announcement, Musk revealed plans for an AI gaming studio at xAI after demonstrating Grok 3’s ability to create games.

“We’re launching an AI gaming studio at xAI. If you’re interested in joining us and developing AI-driven games, please come aboard. We’re announcing the launch tonight,” Musk said as the AI model created a game combining elements of Tetris and Bejeweled.

What does “Grok” mean for Elon Musk?

Musk took time during the presentation to explain the name “Grok,” which comes from Robert Heinlein’s science fiction novel “Stranger in a Strange Land.”

“The term comes from Robert Heinlein’s novel Stranger in a Strange Land. It’s used by a character raised on Mars and means to fully and profoundly understand something. The word ‘grok’ conveys deep understanding, and empathy is an important part of that,” Musk explained.

Musk already had big hopes for the new version before the launch. Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, the tech leader made bold claims that it would be “scary smart”.

Takeaways

With Grok 3’s launch, xAI has demonstrated great progress in creating more capable AI systems in a relatively short time. Musk described the new model as an order of magnitude more capable than its predecessor.

For everyday users, these advancements in reasoning capabilities, combined with the upcoming voice features and massive computing infrastructure, means AI can better understand complex problems, perform more accurate calculations, and interact in more natural ways.

However, the real impact of these advancements will become clearer as more users gain access to it in the coming weeks.