Elon Musk's xAI makes Grok 4 free for all users days after OpenAI's GPT-5 debut
Free access to Grok 4 is applicable for all users globally. Note, access to Grok 4 Heavy, which is said to be xAI's most capable variant of the AI model, is still limited to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers.
The move by xAI indicates it is looking to reach more users while keeping premium features and capabilities locked behind a subscription wall. It also comes just days after OpenAI introduced its latest major AI model called GPT-5, which is also freely accessible to all users worldwide.
Grok 4 has two modes, namely: Auto and Expert. In auto mode, the AI model will automatically determine whether a prompt submitted by a user requires a more detailed and elaborate response based on higher reasoning. It is said to be faster and reduces consumption of compute power as well as other resources.
Expert mode, on the other hand, allows users to manually switch Grok 4 to reasoning mode if they are not satisfied with the initial AI-generated response.
Last week, xAI also made an AI video generation feature called Grok Imagine available at no cost to all users located in the United States. Paid subscribers outside the US are eligible for higher request limits across all features.
The Grok Imagine feature stirred controversy within days of its roll-out. Several users found that the AI feature can be used to generate explicit videos of celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Sydney Sweeney, according to a report by BBC.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk recently unveiled plans to roll out ads directly within the Grok chatbot interface. Speaking in a recent X Spaces discussion, he said that additional revenue streams were necessary to cover the cost of the 'expensive' GPUs that are used to power the AI models.
Musk further said that the ads would appear in-between answers and suggestions on both the Grok AI chatbot website as well as the mobile app.
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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
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Instead, attendees bring their laptops, apply for jobs, launch side hustles, or just soak in the structure of a daily routine, according to the report. Some are simply there to restore a sense of purpose, others use the office setting to deceive their families or even their universities, as per the BBC report. ALSO READ: Shouting match erupts between Trump and Netanyahu over Gaza starvation pics - here's what actually happened Live Events Zhou, whose food business venture failed last year, said that, "I feel very happy. It's like we're working together as a grou," as quoted in the report. Since April, Zhou has been showing up to the mock-up office run by a business called Pretend To Work Company, in Dongguan, one of many similar operations coming up in major cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Wuhan, as per the BBC report. The goal is to escape the isolation of joblessness and cling to the dignity of a routine, according to the report. It may sound absurd to many people, but has given mental statsifaction for some, like Zhou even sent photos of the office to his parents, and he says they feel much more at ease about his lack of employment, as reported by BBC. He shared that the other people who come there are now like friends, and said that when peple are busy, they job hunting, they work hard, but when they have free time they chat, joke about, play games, and they often have dinner together after work, as reported by BBC. Zhou even said that he likes this team building, and that he is much happier than before he joined, according to the report. This trend reflects a deeper crisis, the gap between a highly educated young population and a stagnating economy is growing and so is the sense of frustration, as per the report. Dr Christian Yao, a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Management in New Zealand and an expert on the Chinese economy, explained that, "The phenomenon of pretending to work is now very common," adding, "Due to economic transformation and the mismatch between education and the job market, young people need these places to think about their next steps, or to do odd jobs as a transition," as quoted by BBC. Yao highlighted that, "Pretend office companies are one of the transitional solutions," as quoted in the report. ALSO READ: Giant Wyoming data center to guzzle 5x more power than residents, but the user remains secret When 'Fake It Till You Make It' Becomes a Strategy For 23-year-old Xiaowen Tang in Shanghai, the pretend work space was a lifeline, not just emotionally, but academically, as her university requires proof of employment or internship within a year of graduation to issue a diploma, according to the BBC report. So she rented a desk for a month, snapped some photos, and sent them to her university as 'proof,' but the reality was that she paid the daily fee, and sat in the office writing online novels to earn some pocket money, as per the report. Tang said that, "If you're going to fake it, just fake it to the end," as quoted by BBC. ALSO READ: Is Google's AI revolution a threat to website traffic for digital publishers? Here are strategies to stay ahead Meet the Man Selling 'Dignity' The Pretend To Work Company's founder, who goes by the pseudonym Feiyu, a former retail entrepreneur whose business folded during the pandemic, he created the office space in April not just as a business, but as what he calls 'a social experiment,' as quoted in the report. Feiyu said that, "What I'm selling isn't a workstation, but the dignity of not being a useless person," as quoted by BBC. He explained that, "It uses lies to maintain respectability, but it allows some people to find the truth," adding, "If we only help users prolong their acting skills we are complicit in a gentle deception," as quoted in the report. The founder also said that, "Only by helping them transform their fake workplace into a real starting point can this social experiment truly live up to its promise," as quoted in the BBC report. About 40% of his customers are recent graduates faking internship documentation, the other 60% are freelancers or digital nomads, many working on ecommerce or writing gigs, with the average age being around 30, and the youngest being 25, according to the report. Officially, these workers are called as "flexible employment professionals", a grouping that also includes ride-hailing and trucker drivers, as reported by BBC. ALSO READ: 10 must-change iOS 18.6 settings that'll make your iPhone feel like day one again FAQs Why would anyone pay to pretend to have a job? 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Economic Times
4 hours ago
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