Grok is a generative AI chatbot created by xAI, launched in 2023 by Elon Musk. Built upon its own large language model, Grok is promoted for its humorous approach and real-time access to information from the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). It is accessible on X, through its dedicated website, and on iOS and Android applications.
1961: Coining of "Grok" in Stranger in a Strange Land
In 1961, Robert A. Heinlein coined the term "Grok" in his science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land.
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2015: Musk co-founds OpenAI
In 2015, Elon Musk co-founded the AI research organization OpenAI with Sam Altman.
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April 2023: Musk Announces TruthGPT Intentions
In April 2023, Elon Musk announced his intention to develop an AI chatbot called "TruthGPT" during an interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
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November 2023: Grok Early Access Preview
In November 2023, xAI began previewing Grok to selected X Premium users, describing it as an early beta product with rapid improvement potential.
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December 2023: Grok's Political Leaning Criticisms
Following Grok's December 2023 launch, it was criticized for giving progressive answers and Musk responded saying that xAI would be taking "immediate action to shift Grok closer to politically neutral".
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December 2023: Curio Launches AI Toy Called Grok
In December 2023, Curio launched an AI toy called Grok, unrelated to the xAI service.
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2023: Grok Chatbot Launch
In 2023, Grok, a generative AI chatbot developed by xAI and advertised as having a "sense of humor" and direct access to X, was launched.
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March 11, 2024: Musk announces Grok language model to go open source
On March 11, 2024, Musk posted on X that the language model would go open source within a week.
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March 26, 2024: Grok Enabled for Premium Subscribers
On March 26, 2024, Grok was enabled for all premium subscribers, not just those on the higher-end tier, Premium+.
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March 29, 2024: Grok-1.5 Announced
On March 29, 2024, Grok-1.5 was announced, featuring "improved reasoning capabilities" and a context length of 128,000 tokens.
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April 4, 2024: Grok Takes Over News Summaries on X Explore Page
On April 4, 2024, Grok began writing summaries of breaking news stories on X's "Explore" page, replacing the human curation team.
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April 12, 2024: Grok-1.5 Vision (Grok-1.5V) Announced
On April 12, 2024, Grok-1.5 Vision (Grok-1.5V) was announced. It's able to process visual information including documents, diagrams, graphs, screenshots, and photographs.
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April 2024: Grok Generates False News Summaries
Since April 2024, Grok has been used to generate summaries of breaking news stories on X. It mistakenly created a headline and description of a false story about Iran having attacked Israel and misunderstood many users joking about the solar eclipse.
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May 4, 2024: Grok launches in the United Kingdom
On May 4, 2024, Grok launched in the United Kingdom, making it the only country in Europe to support Grok at the moment due to the impending Artificial Intelligence Act rules in the European Union.
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May 16, 2024: Grok released in the EU
On May 16, 2024, Grok was reviewed by the EU and released.
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August 14, 2024: Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini Announced
On August 14, 2024, Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini were announced, with upgraded performance and reasoning, and image generation capability using Flux by Black Forest Labs. Grok-2 mini was also released on the same day.
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August 2024: Grok altered to stop producing misinformation
In August 2024, Grok was altered to stop producing misinformation about the 2024 United States presidential election. It was updated to direct users to the vote.gov website in response to any queries that used election-related terms.
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August 2024: Grok's Image Generation Capabilities
In August 2024, Grok's capacity to generate images using Flux was added, with The Verge reporting that the kinds of prompts that would be "immediately blocked" on other services seemed to be permitted by Grok, generating images of named politicians, celebrities, copyrighted cartoon characters, terrorism and drug use from the chatbot.
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October 28, 2024: Grok Receives Image Understanding Capabilities
On October 28, 2024, Grok received image understanding capabilities.
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November 16, 2024: Grok Receives Web Search Capabilities
On November 16, 2024, Grok received web search capabilities.
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November 23, 2024: Grok Receives PDF Understanding Capabilities
On November 23, 2024, Grok received PDF understanding capabilities.
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December 6, 2024: Grok Enabled for Non-Premium Users
On December 6, 2024, Grok was enabled for users not subscribed to X Premium, but with usage limits.
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December 14, 2024: Aurora Coming to Grok API
On December 14, 2024, xAI announced that Aurora would be coming to its API in the coming weeks.
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December 2024: Fun mode removed in Grok
In December 2024, Grok's "fun mode", self-described as "edgy", was removed.
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January 9, 2025: Grok apps made available worldwide
On January 9, 2025, the Grok app was made available to users worldwide.
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February 4, 2025: xAI released Android version of Grok app
On February 4, 2025, xAI released an Android version of their standalone Grok app, initially limited to Australia, Canada, India, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.
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