Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI is set to launch its first model, Grok, according to multiple posts from the Tesla CEO this week.
In a post on X on Friday, Musk announced that the xAI Grok AI assistant would be included with X Premium Plus. He also reiterated the point in an additional post on Saturday, adding that users can subscribe to the upgrade tier of the social media platform tier for $16 a month.
The software is the first product to be launched by the company since Musk started xAI in July.
The @xAI Grok AI assistant will be provided as part of 𝕏 Premium+, so I recommend signing up for that.
Just $16/month via web. https://t.co/wEEIZNjEkp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2023
Later on Saturday, both Musk and xAI posted official announcements of the AI model, along with a page for Grok appearing on the company’s website.
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Announcing Grok!
Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask!
Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use…
— xAI (@xai) November 5, 2023
Grok will have real-time access to the X platform, which Musk and the company have said is a huge advantage when compared with other generative AI models.
On the origin of the name “Grok,” Musk called one take early Saturday morning “accurate” after another user used GPT-4 to ask about the meaning of “grok,” to which the OpenAI foundation model responded that the word originates from the 1961 novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein.
The book’s use of the term, according to the AI model, refers to a Martian word “that means to understand something or someone so completely that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It’s a deep, almost metaphysical understanding.”
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The rivaling language model also detailed the modern use of the word “Grok,” which has found a place in the tech world to “suggest a profound level of comprehension of software programming, technology, or a complex subject matter.”
Accurate
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2023
Musk also said that Grok would have more of a sense of humor and sarcasm than other generative language models, even sharing a few screenshots from discussions with the AI. You can see his screenshots below.
Credit: Elon Musk | X Credit: Elon Musk | X
Musk also noted in a response to Whole Mars Blog that the threshold for what Grok will tell you, “if pushed, is what is available on the Internet via reasonable browser search.”
The Premium Plus tier on X comes as a range of tiers set to be offered on the platform, including two lower tiers called Basic and Basic Plus. The company also says on its support page for the tiers that pricing on Premium will start at $3 per month or $32 per year, based on localized pricing.
Although X and xAI are not the same company, it’s not abnormal for Musk’s businesses to work together. Some examples include the Boring Company’s use of Tesla vehicles in its underground loops and Musk’s previous hopes for utilizing OpenAI at Tesla.
Update 11/5/23: Added official release information from xAI.
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Elon Musk’s X is seeing fewer downloads, but usage is hitting all-time highs: study
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk continues to tease the unveiling event for the Tesla Roadster, a continuing trend that has grown into a bigger game of “When” for fans who have been waiting years for the car to finally enter production.
A video shared on X of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that Musk appeared on last year, teasing the Roadster unveiling, was shared once again on the social media platform. The poster said the Roadster event will be “unforgettable.”
Musk agreed:
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2026
The timing is interesting because just yesterday, Musk said that we will be getting flying cars, and for years, Tesla has hinted that it could develop a SpaceX cold gas thruster package that would help the car float or fly for a short period of time.
It would be reasonable to assume Tesla’s major delays with this unveiling event are likely caused by the company’s need to break the rules and push the envelope on nearly everything. Last July, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said:
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“Roadster is definitely in development. We did talk about it last Sunday night. We are gearing up for a super cool demo. It’s going to be mind blowing. We showed Elon some cool demos last week of the tech we’ve been working on and he got a little excited.”
The latest updates that Tesla has given us are that the Roadster is in design development, and it did have several potential dates for an unveiling event this year, including April. It was then pushed to August.
However, there are no clues as to when Tesla will be ready, and fans are certainly getting frustrated with the delays.
For what it is worth, Franz von Holzhausen told Jay Leno this week that the event would be “very soon.”
We sure hope.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s driverless Cybercab just passed a big test with State Governor
Florida’s governor rode Tesla’s Cybercab at a closed test track and called the experience impressive.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rode in a Tesla Cybercab on a closed test track this week and came away impressed, posting on X that the vehicle “successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.” He called the ride “impressive.”
The stop was part of a broader event Monday at SunTrax, a 775 acre state owned proving ground in Auburndale that Florida built specifically to test autonomous and connected vehicles before they reach public roads. Standing next to a gold Cybercab, DeSantis described the car in plain terms: “You go in there and you just sit. You have a screen. There’s no steering wheel, no pedals. Clearly these things could be very beneficial.”
We took a ride on a robotaxi on the Suntrax course and it successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.
Impressive! https://t.co/FVAkzFLz3r
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 11, 2026
DeSantis paired the praise with a caveat that has followed autonomous vehicles since the category existed. “You don’t want to be in an autonomous vehicle and it drives you into a ditch. That would not be good,” he said, framing safety validation as the gate before wider deployment.
SunTrax, the 2.25 mile oval which the state calls the only high speed autonomous vehicle test track in the Southeast, can simulate rain, pedestrian crossings, hills and crowded urban conditions at highway speeds, letting companies push a car past what an early public rollout would risk. Tesla, Waymo and Beep all use the facility, and Florida’s regulatory approach, among the most permissive for autonomous vehicles in the country, doesn’t require a human operator inside a fully autonomous car.
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Tesla has reason to want the blessing of Florida and states beyond, as the Cybercab entered volume production at Gigafactory Texas this spring and has since self certified as SAE Level 4 under Texas law. Public road testing so far has kept a safety monitor in the passenger seat, and Florida is where Tesla has been expanding its existing Model Y based Robotaxi service instead, adding Miami in July and then Orlando and Tampa two weeks later. A closed track endorsement from a sitting governor doesn’t change any of that, but it does put Tesla’s newest hardware in front of a state that has already shown it will move fast on rules.
Sweden’s IF Metall union has announced that it is ending all protests against Tesla, effective immediately.
The union said in a statement this morning:
“There seems to be no limits to the length Tesla would go to keep unions out of their operations. Unfortunately, they have managed to pay their way out in Sweden. At least that has given the former IF Metall members more money in their pocket, but the insecurity of not having a union or a collective agreement still remains.”
IF Metall has been after Tesla in Sweden for the past three years, attempting to push unionized operations into its factories. Tesla, on the other hand, has given its employees the chance to unionize in various markets. However, the organization says that Tesla has “bought out all of its striking members.”
🚨 NEW: IF Metall has decided to end all industrial action against Tesla in Sweden, effective immediately.
“IF Metall has decided to end all industrial action against Tesla’s Swedish operations, after the company bought out all of its striking members. With no members remaining… pic.twitter.com/blne8iC6hV
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 13, 2026
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“Today, we end our industrial action against Tesla. We do so because it can no longer have an effect – not because our principles have changed,” a written statement said.
Over the past three years, IF Metall has definitely been a thorn in the side of Tesla and its operations in Sweden. The primary strike started in October 2023, when IF Metall members at Tesla’s Swedish Service Centers refused to work.
IF Metall chair to Elon Musk: “Give us a chance” as Tesla Sweden strike hits 2 years
Strikes extended to blockades and work stoppages at non-Tesla-owned repair shops that service Teslas. This limited and stopped anything related to warranties, transport damage, and other work on Teslas ending, eliminating work arounds for customers.
Sympathy strikes followed, as postal workers, dock workers, electricians, and other tradesmen stopped working. Add in lawsuits and other pressures, and you get the full scope of what strategies the union has used against Tesla over the past several years.
But now, it’s all over.
“We will continue to defend the right of workers to organize. We will continue to fight for collective bargaining. And we will continue to stand in solidarity with workers and trade unions facing similar challenges elsewhere – just as you have stood with us,” IF Metall said.
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Elon Musk teases Tesla Roadster unveiling once again
Tesla’s driverless Cybercab just passed a big test with State Governor
