Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has debuted its updated Grok-3 model, showcasing a version of the chatbot technology to challenge OpenAI days after the billionaire’s unsolicited cash bid to buy the company was rejected. The Grok-3 model has been trained on synthetic datasets using machine learning techniques such as reinforcement learning, which is said to be an effective method to reduce incorrect or imaginary responses provided by AI models. According to xAI, Grok-3 beats OpenAI’s GPT-4o, Alphabet Inc.’s Google Gemini, DeepSeek’s V3 model, and Anthropic’s Claude in math, science, and coding benchmarks.

Musk’s performance claims, which have not been independently verified, ramp up an increasingly bitter rivalry between his startup and OpenAI. He launched xAI in 2023 as an alternative to the ChatGPT maker, which he’s publicly criticized for its plans to restructure as a for-profit business. The company has also introduced a new smart search engine with Grok-3, called DeepSearch, which is a reasoning chatbot that expresses its process of understanding a query and how it plans its response. DeepSearch includes options for research, brainstorming, and data analysis, and the demonstration showed that it has advanced capabilities. Additionally, xAI is starting a new subscription called SuperGrok for the bot’s mobile app and Grok.com website, and plans to open-source preceding versions of Grok models as soon as the latest one is fully mature.

XAI also announced that Grok-3 will be available to Premium+ subscribers on X, a service that costs $22 a month, compared to $200 a month for full access to OpenAI’s GPT-4o. The company is in talks to raise about $10 billion in a funding round that would value the company at roughly $75 billion. OpenAI is also in talks to raise as much as $40 billion in a round that would push its valuation to as much as $300 billion. These businesses are also capital-intensive, with SoftBank Group Corp., OpenAI, Oracle Corp., and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX jointly announcing a program in January to deploy $100 billion for the construction of data centers and other infrastructure for AI in the US. The competition in the AI market is heating up, with new models and funding rounds being announced regularly.

Some of the key features and capabilities of Grok-3 include: * Advanced reasoning capabilities * Ability to outperform other AI models in math, science, and coding benchmarks * Integration with DeepSearch, a smart search engine * Availability on X, a social media platform, and Grok.com website * Plans to open-source preceding versions of Grok models. The Grok-3 model has been trained on synthetic datasets using machine learning techniques such as reinforcement learning, which is said to be an effective method to reduce incorrect or imaginary responses provided by AI models. The company has also announced that it will keep improving the model, with Musk saying that "we're continually improving the models every day, and literally within 24 hours, you'll see improvements".

The AI market is expected to continue to grow, with new models and funding rounds being announced regularly. The future of AI is likely to be shaped by the competition between xAI, OpenAI, and other companies, as well as the development of new technologies and techniques. As the AI competition heats up, it will be interesting to see how the different companies and models perform, and which ones will emerge as the leaders in the market. With the increasing demand for AI technologies, it is likely that the market will continue to grow, and new innovations and advancements will be made in the field.