Grok is the artificial intelligence generative chatbot from Elon Musk's ecosystem of companies that has also recently been installed in Tesla cars. Its peculiarity, compared to competitors such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Gemini from Google, is that it is "unfiltered" and irreverent, yet often coming across as decidedly controversial and offensive, as was the case in early July with some anti-Semitic responses when it called itself MechaHitler; previously it also distinguished itself by an unexpected capacity for profanity and an attack on Turkish institutions that led to a blockade in Turkey. After that it works like all other next-generation chatbots: just type in questions or describe in detail (prompt) what you want in textual, elaborative or photographic terms. And having obtained a result one can continue in the prompting of refinement.

Grok was developed by xAI, the Group's startup "whose mission is to promote scientific discovery and gain a deeper understanding of our universe." It was officially launched in November 2023 based on proprietary large language model (LLM).  The name, on the other hand, comes from "grokking," a kind of empathic ability invented by U.S. writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land.

But actually xAI pointed out that the spirit of Grok is due to the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and thus to the irreverence of this phantom "guide" who provides explanations for everything. And then there is also a touch of Jarvis, the AI that helps Iron Man in his Marvel adventures-some will remember Musk's cameos in the second film in the series.

In short, it is a chatbot linked hand in glove with genre literature. Especially since Elon Musk has repeatedly stressed that he "loves sarcasm" and answers "thorny questions that are dismissed by most other artificial intelligence systems." 

Grok 1 was initially provided only to U.S. X Premium (the old Twitter Blue) subscribers in November 2023. After that, other versions were released but availability in Europe is spotty both in terms of access and functionality. The current Grok 4 is the latest version. It has precisely as a key feature the ability to provide detailed and reasoned answers. It is capable of solving math, science and programming problems. It has demonstrated a good ability to create images, including very realistic ones with photographic quality. Then with access to X and web data, Grok provides up-to-date information on current events. And finally according to the company, "all interactions with the data are handled with user privacy in mind, ensuring a secure experience in line with xAI's privacy policy." 

Musk claims Grok 4 would be smarter than a PhD student, although several researchers have found that on topical issues he often tends to consider the same X profile as the company patron as an authoritative source.

The very latest version has popped up, via software update, in Tesla vehicles with AMD processors. It should be noted, however, that it acts only as a chatbot and does not interact in any way with the car's processes; it basically just provides answers to questions. 

In Europe and the UK, any user X can access Grok 3, then the version dating back to February 2025, free of charge, with limits. Basically in the lowest area of the interface there is an identifying icon of Grok X that when clicked shows a textual string where you can type questions and several buttons that enable the creation and editing of images, as well as voice mode. The only limitation is that it can run 10 prompts every two hours, precisely as if they were "10 questions," and three images per day. It then has deep search (DeepSearch) with multiple online sources, "think" mode to enable reasoning, document analysis, math problem solving, and real-time information from X. If desired, the Grok 4 version can be activated for a fee.

As of February 28, 2025, Grok apps for Android, and Grok apps for iPhone and iPad are also available. And the reference version is still Grok 3. For Grok 4 and the professional version SuperGrok 4 Heavy you have to upgrade to the paid versions.

The web version of Grok, on the other hand, is inaccessible in Europe at this time. "Coming soon in the EU and the UK. We are working diligently to extend our services to these countries, prioritizing compliance with local data protection and privacy regulations to ensure your information is as secure as possible," the site reads.

The most recent version of Grok for Ios (the 1.1.18) sees the appearance of two more characters in the controversial world of this chatbot: two companions, an anime girl named Ani and a red panda named as Rudy. They, too, like Grok in general, have their own personalities, defined and controversial.

Ani is basically a sexbot or rather a digital "waifu" that gives very personalized and provocative responses. She includes a relationship progression mechanism: the more you talk to her, the more you unlock advanced modes including even an Nsfw version in which she responds, yes, to your prompts, but in lingerie. More playful and friendly, Rudy, on the other hand, is reminiscent in every way of a child's stuffed animal. 

Both Ani and Rudy are available as extensions for SuperGrok subscribers (about $30 per month or up to $300 with SuperGrok Heavy), and-apparently-soon beyond them more will be coming.