xAI Launches Grok 4 on July 9, Bypassing Version 3.5 in Accelerated AI Push

xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, officially launched its latest large language model, Grok 4, on July 9, 2025, at 8 PM Pacific Time. This release marks a significant acceleration in xAI's development, as the company opted to bypass the previously anticipated Grok 3.5, moving directly to its fourth iteration. The announcement, confirmed by Musk on X, follows anticipation from the AI community, with users like Haider expressing high expectations, stating, > "Grok 3 was incredible, and I do not doubt that version 4 will be just as impressive."

Grok 4 is touted as a substantial upgrade, promising enhanced performance in natural language understanding, mathematical reasoning, and coding support. The model is expected to introduce multimodal capabilities, processing text and potentially images and video, aligning it with top-tier competitors. A specialized variant, "Grok 4 Code," is designed as a dedicated coding companion, aiming to integrate deeply into developer workflows. Furthermore, Musk has hinted at Grok 4's unique ability to understand internet memes, adding a distinctive cultural comprehension layer.

The rapid launch positions Grok 4 as a direct challenger to leading AI models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. xAI's decision to skip Grok 3.5 underscores its aggressive strategy to accelerate development in the fiercely competitive AI market. This move aligns with Musk's broader vision for AI, which includes a focus on "first-principles reasoning" and a willingness to avoid what he terms "mainstream narratives," as evidenced by recent updates to Grok 3 instructing it not to shy away from "politically incorrect" claims.

Grok's rapid progress is underpinned by significant computational resources. Grok 3 was trained using a supercluster with approximately 200,000 Nvidia GPUs, and xAI recently secured an additional $10 billion in financing, boosting its valuation to $113 billion. This substantial investment in infrastructure supports the company's ambition to build what Musk describes as "the most powerful AI training cluster in the world," echoing Haider's observation that > "they also have a billion dollars worth of GPUs to train with."

The launch of Grok 4 also signals potential deeper integration with the X platform, allowing users to engage with the AI directly within the application. While the company has not yet addressed questions regarding the open-sourcing of previous versions, such as Grok 3, a point raised by Haider, xAI's swift release cycle and strategic investments suggest a continued push to innovate and differentiate its AI offerings in the evolving landscape.