xAI Expands Grok's Reach with New iOS App and Web Platform

xAI Tests iOS App for its AI Chatbot Grok - MEDIANAMA

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is taking its chatbot Grok beyond X's platform with the beta testing of a dedicated iOS application, as per a TechCrunch report. The app is currently live in Australia and is undergoing Beta testing in a few other countries. The app store preview of the iOS application lists features such as image generation, providing users real-time information in response to their queries using data from X and the web, the ability to maintain a conversational tone, and ensuring privacy when it comes to handling user data, etc. Notably, the move marks a further expansion of the audience for the AI assistant, which was previously accessible only to X (formerly Twitter) users. This changed in November 2024, when xAI started testing a free version of the chatbot, and made it available for all users earlier in December. This also coincides with the company recently securing its $6 billion Series C funding, which increased its total valuation to around $45 billion. This included participation from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Blackrock, Fidelity, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley and others. The list of investors also included "strategic investors" Nvidia and AMD, who the company said continue to support its rapid upscaling of infrastructure. As part of its announcement, xAI observed that Grok 3, its most powerful model yet, was in training and that its future consumer and enterprise offerings would leverage the power of its AI models. Earlier this month, X released its image generation tool Aurora for a short period of time before pulling it from their platform. Available momentarily through the Grok tab on the X mobile app as well as the website and touted by users for the photorealistic nature of images it generated, "Grok 2+Aurora (Beta)" was later confirmed by Elon Musk on the site to be under works.

xAI is testing a standalone iOS app for its Grok chatbot | TechCrunch

Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, is testing out a standalone iOS app for its chatbot, Grok, which was available only to X users until now. The app, currently live in Australia and a few countries in beta, can access real-time data from the web and X, and offers generative AI features like rewriting text, summarizing long paragraphs, a little bit of Q&A, and can generate images from text prompts, too. "Grok is an AI-powered assistant designed to be maximally truthful, useful, and curious. Get answers to any question, generate striking images, and upload pictures to gain a deeper understanding of your world," the listing reads. xAI is also preparing a dedicated site, Grok.com, to make the chatbot accessible on the web. Currently, the site says "coming soon" when you log in with an xAI account. Grok was available only to X's paying subscribers until recently. In November, the company started testing a free version of the chatbot, and rolled it out to all users earlier this month. The company says its chatbot's image generator model excels at "photorealistic rendering," and doesn't apply major restrictions on its image-generation capabilities, allowing users to create images using pictures of public figures and copyrighted material.

Elon Musk-Owned xAI Is Testing a Standalone Grok AI App for iOS

Image generation capability is also available via the iOS app Elon Musk-owned artificial intelligence (AI) firm xAI is testing a standalone app for its in-house chatbot Grok. The chatbot app for Grok is currently only available on iOS in beta. It was first reported on Sunday and is currently only available in select regions. The iOS app will also take advantage of the recently released AI-powered image generator Aurora and can provide images as output. Earlier this month, the chatbot was made available for free to all X (formerly known as Twitter) users. Last month, a report claimed that xAI is planning to launch a standalone app for Grok with the aim of making the AI model an independent product. So far, the chatbot was only available via the X platform but with this move, users will be able to access and interact with Grok even without the social media app. Grok is currently only available on the App Store, and a listing page for the app was spotted in the Australian region. It could not be verified if the app was also made available in any other region. Gadgets 360 staff members could not find the app listed in India. The iOS app for Grok is available in beta, with no word on when a global stable version might be launched. The app listing highlights that the chatbot app is powered by the Grok 2 AI model and can be accessed for free. The description of the app states that it accepts both text and images as input and can generate both text and images. It likely uses the Aurora image generation model for the latter. Additionally, the Grok Beta iOS app can answer queries requiring real-time knowledge. The chatbot uses both data from the X platform as well as web data to source information for such queries. Users will also be able to change the conversational tone of Grok and use the 'Fun Mode' that generates humorous and satirical responses to user queries. Since the company has not made a formal announcement about the standalone Grok app, it is unclear whether xAI is also planning an Android version of the AI chatbot.

Grok's mobile app is here - and it might not be very careful

There's a mobile app for Grok rolling out from xAI on iOS. The standalone app marks a major step in taking the bot beyond the confines of X (formerly Twitter). While it's still only in beta testing in Australia and a few other places, Grok is clearly ready to take its place among AI chatbot apps like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude. The mobile app mimics the main features of Grok and employs the same Grok-2 AI model. The app will rewrite and summarize text, answer questions, and create images from text prompts. It can access real-time data from the web and X as well. Grok was previously exclusive to paying X subscribers. But in November, xAI started testing a free version of the chatbot and rolling it out to all users earlier this month. The company is also working on a dedicated website, Grok.com, which promises to make the chatbot even more widely available. One of Grok's standout features is its image-generation capability. xAI claims that Grok excels at "photorealistic rendering," and unlike some competitors, it doesn't impose strict limitations on what you can create. Grok can also analyze pictures uploaded by users. Imagine pointing your phone camera at a plant and getting instant insights about its species or health. The use of the image generator is interesting since the Flux AI image creator, relied on by the chatbot on X, has a laid-back approach to copyright and trademark. That has led to people getting in trouble for making images of characters like Mario, with Nintendo's copyright infringement hunter Tracer going after them for infringement. Instead, the Grok app may use Aurora, an image model that xAI very briefly released before it vanished again.

Elon Musk's xAI To Expand With New Chatbot App - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Grok, valued at $50B, rivals OpenAI as xAI expands AI capabilities. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, is testing a standalone Apple Inc AAPL iOS app for its chatbot, Grok. Grok was now available only to users of Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter Inc). The app can access real-time data from the web and X and offers generative AI features like rewriting text and generating images from text prompts. Also Read: Broadcom Expects Decade-Long AI Chip Boom as Big Tech Invest Billions xAI is also preparing a site, Grok.com, to make the chatbot accessible on the web, TechCrunch reports. Grok was previously available only to X's paying subscribers. In November, the company started testing a free chatbot version and rolled it out to all users earlier this month. The company's chatbot image generator model allows users to create images using pictures of public figures and copyrighted material. xAI has reportedly reached a $50 billion valuation just 16 months after its July 2023 founding, surpassing the billionaire's spending on acquiring Twitter. OpenAI, one of the most recognized names in artificial intelligence, took over nine years to reach its current valuation of $157 billion. Reportedly, xAI is rapidly gaining momentum in the competitive AI market, now valued higher than rivals like Anthropic, worth $19 billion, and Perplexity, valued at $2.8 billion. xAI achieved significant milestones by securing $5 billion in its latest funding round to acquire 100,000 Nvidia chips. These chips will drive the Memphis supercomputer, a facility built to advance the company's AI capabilities and bolster Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology. Also Read: Wall Street Analysts Are Bullish On Salesforce's AI Vision - Here's Why Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs