Tech Desk 
Nov 28, 2024
In a bid to compete with OpenAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, is reportedly working on a standalone app for its chatbot “Grok.”
Notably, xAI's competitors, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude, have already launched their apps and offer free services.
What is xAI?
For those unfamiliar, xAI is an America-based startup company working in the area of AI that Musk established in March 2023, as an alternative to OpenAI, a company he co-founded but later parted ways due to ideological differences.
Grok as a standalone app
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the Grok app is expected to debut as early as December, positioning Grok as a direct rival to OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Currently, Grok is accessible through X (formerly Twitter), but only for those who have subscribed. However, the launch of the Grok app also emphasises xAI's dedication to making its AI more accessible to a wider audience.
Moreover, the Financial Times reported that the Grok app is expected to launch after the completion of xAI's upcoming funding round, which is anticipated to raise $5 billion and value the company at $50 billion,
This valuation would represent a significant doubling of the company's worth over the past six months.
However, citing unnamed sources, the Journal’s report revealed that xAI is also responsible for developing customer support features for Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX which is another Musk-owned company.
