On February 18, 2024, shortly after a delay of nearly 20 minutes past the scheduled launch time, Elon Musk unveiled his highly anticipated new artificial intelligence model, touted as "the smartest AI on Earth." Musk's company, xAI, claims that this model, known as Grok-3, has surpassed other famed AI models, including Google's Gemini 2.0 Pro, OpenAI's GPT-4o, and DeepSeek's V3 in various benchmark tests that evaluate mathematics, science, and coding.

The announcement revealed that Grok-3's abilities are not just theoretical; it also features new models within its Grok-3 series that excel in reasoning capabilities, particularly outperforming OpenAI and DeepSeek's reasoning models on the AIME 2025 test suiteThis launch sent ripples through the AI community, illustrating Musk's continued ambition to establish a major presence in the competitive landscape of artificial intelligence.

In concert with the Grok-3 reasoning model, xAI introduced a new product called "Deep Search." This innovative tool can quickly scan information across the internet, including content from social media platforms like X, providing users with succinct summaries in response to queriesMusk proclaimed that this would dramatically reduce the time users spend searching for information—a nod to society's increasing demand for efficiency amidst the information overload characteristic of the digital age.

However, the availability of Grok-3 remains limited for now, as only users with a premium subscription on the X platform can access this cutting-edge technologyOthers wishing to experience Grok-3 will need to subscribe to xAI’s new paid plan, dubbed SuperGrok, which will cost $30 monthly or $300 annually and is projected to launch shortly

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As for the API services tailored for corporate clients and developers, users must expect a waiting period of several weeks before they can benefit from these features.

xAI has emphasized its commitment to open-source practices, typically releasing earlier versions of its products once a new version is stable and fully operational. xAI mentioned that Grok-2 might be open-sourced within a few months following the successful deployment of Grok-3, showcasing a culture of transparency and shared innovation.

Contrasting with competitors like DeepSeek, xAI positions itself as an advocate for a bold approach in AI developmentMusk elaborated that Grok-3's computational power is tenfold greater than its predecessor, Grok-2, indicating a significant leap in technological capabilities that could redefine performance standards within the field.

During a live-streamed presentation, xAI's technology leads explained Musk's determination from last year to establish the most capable AI through the creation of robust data centersThis vision led to an impressive feat: within just 122 days, the team utilized their first 100,000 GPU setup, claiming it as "the largest fully interconnected H100 cluster" in existenceFollowing that, in a mere 92 days, they doubled the capacity of their data centers, which ultimately laid the groundwork for Grok-3's development.

The leadership at xAI emphasized the critical nature of having a powerful engineering team along with top-tier AI talent to harness the capabilities of a high-performance clusterThis synergy, according to xAI, is indispensable for yielding exceptional intelligence from advanced AI models.

In the competitive AI market, comparisons naturally arise, with DeepSeek's V3 training taking place on a cluster outfitted with 2,048 NVIDIA H800 GPUs

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It's worth noting that the H800 AI chips are tailored specifically for the Chinese market and do not match the performance of more advanced H200 and H100 chipsDeepSeek calculated its training costs for V3 at a staggering $5.576 million, underlining the significant investment required for achieving cutting-edge AI capabilities.

Despite skepticism from some quarters regarding the viability of large-scale AI infrastructure, Silicon Valley tech companies have remained undeterred by the critiques surrounding their financial strategiesBloomberg reported last week that xAI is in discussions for a fresh financing round, potentially raising $10 billion and valuing the company at a striking $75 billionMeanwhile, OpenAI is also pursuing a massive financing round that could reach up to $40 billion, potentially inflating its valuation to an astonishing $300 billion.

Tensions have heightened between Musk and OpenAI recently, especially with Musk leading a consortium offering $97.4 billion to purchase OpenAI's non-profit organizationThe OpenAI board promptly rejected this proposal, with CEO Sam Altman describing Musk's move as a competitor's ploy aimed at "slowing us down." In a twist of irony, Altman quipped on the X platform that while his organization would not entertain Musk's offer, they could indeed counter-offer $9.74 billion to acquire Twitter from him.

Analysts suggest that Musk's acquisition bid may have ulterior motives, intended to disrupt OpenAI's ongoing restructuringPresently, OpenAI operates a for-profit subsidiary governed by a non-profit boardThe organization seeks to transition to a fully for-profit model, necessitating equity compensation for the non-profit's assets, a point through which Musk's offer could play a significant role in determining asset evaluation.

According to reports from the UK on February 18, OpenAI is contemplating granting special voting rights to its non-profit board, enabling oversight over the restructuring of the company to defend against hostile takeover attempts from external parties like Musk.

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