Elon Musk’s Grok released as a standalone app

Grok, the AI assistant integrated into the X platform, has been released as a standalone app. Developed by xAI, the app retains its signature conversational tone, which the company describes as “humorous and engaging.”

Initially launched in December 2024 for a limited set of users, the Grok app builds on X’s rollout of a free tier for the AI assistant. Initially, access to Grok was tied to an X Premium subscription.  The free tier of this artificial intelligence chatbot allows 10 requests every two hours and three image analysis requests per day - restrictions that may also apply to the standalone app.

Elon Musk’s Grok enables users to generate images, summarise text, and answer questions.

How to use the Grok app

Users can sign in to the app using Apple, Google, or X accounts, or simply by email. It is, however, not clear if X Premium subscribers gain additional benefits when using the Grok app, as they do on X.

While the AI powered chatbot shares challenges common to AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini - such as occasional inaccuracies and odd image outputs - it differentiates itself with its ability to address “spicy questions” that other AI tools avoid.

Additionally, a version of the Grok AI model is available as open-source software, appealing to developers and researchers.