xAI, the maker of the Grok models
xAI is the artificial intelligence lab Elon Musk launched in 2023, which builds the Grok models and assistant. Since February 2026 it has been part of SpaceX, while keeping the xAI and Grok brands.
Data as of October 22, 2026
Key figures
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| Type | Start-up |
| Parent company | SpaceX |
| Weights policy | Closed models |
| Model families | Grok |
| Consumer assistant | Grok |
| Official site | x.ai · Developer API |
| Models tracked here | 7 |
| Best ranking position | #16 |
A lab launched in 2023
xAI was announced in July 2023, with Elon Musk as co-founder and CEO and a very broad mission: to understand the true nature of the universe. A few months later, in November 2023, the company introduced its first model, Grok, built into the X social network.
On February 2, 2026, SpaceX announced it had acquired xAI, with the stated aim of bringing together AI, rockets and satellite internet. xAI and Grok keep their names; only some documents now mention the new parent company.
The Grok family
All xAI models carry the Grok name, with variants for different jobs:
- text models, with or without a reasoning phase, offering large context windows;
- Grok Build, aimed at agentic coding;
- Grok Imagine, for image generation and video;
- voice models for speech synthesis and speech recognition.
On openness, xAI is mostly closed. It released the weights of Grok-1 in March 2024 under the Apache 2.0 license, then those of Grok 2.5 under the Grok 2 Community License. Recent generations are only available through the assistant and the API.
How to access Grok
- The Grok assistant: a dedicated app plus integration into the X social network. See the Grok page.
- The xAI API, with endpoints for text, code, voice, images and video, compatible with the OpenAI client.
What sets xAI apart
In practice, xAI is defined by its close ties to Elon Musk’s other companies: the X network, which gives Grok access to real-time news and posts, and now SpaceX. Its catalog covers many formats (text, code, voice, images and video) under a single brand, which can simplify things for developers who want one provider. To see how Grok stacks up against models from OpenAI or Anthropic, use the model comparison tool.
xAI models tracked on this site
| Models | Released | Capability index | Price (input / output) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok 4.7 | September 21, 2026 | 79.9 | $2 / $6 |
| Grok 4.6 | August 12, 2026 | 86.1 | $2 / $6 |
| Grok 4.5 | July 8, 2026 | 79.1 | $2 / $6 |
| Grok 4.3 | April 17, 2026 | 76.8 | $1.25 / $2.5 |
| Grok Build 0.1 | April 16, 2026 | — | $1 / $2 |
| Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) | March 9, 2026 | 74.6 | $1.25 / $2.5 |
| Grok Code Fast 1 | September 2, 2025 | — | $0.20 / $1.5 |
Frequently asked questions
Who founded xAI?
xAI was announced in July 2023, with Elon Musk as co-founder and CEO. The first Grok model was unveiled in November 2023.
What does the SpaceX acquisition change?
SpaceX announced on February 2, 2026 that it had acquired xAI. The xAI and Grok brands remain and the API is still available; some documentation now refers to SpaceX.
Are the Grok models open source?
Recent models are closed. In the past, however, xAI released the weights of Grok-1 under the Apache 2.0 license and later those of Grok 2.5 under a more restrictive community license.
Is the xAI API compatible with OpenAI?
Yes. The documentation shows you can use the official OpenAI client by just changing the API address and key, which makes it easy to try Grok in existing tools.
Data sources
- x.ai
- x.ai
- docs.x.ai
- docs.x.ai
- Models.dev — Model data: models.dev (open-source project)
- Epoch AI — AI Benchmarking Hub — Epoch AI, “AI Benchmarking Hub”, epoch.ai, CC BY 4.0
Data as of October 22, 2026
Report an error
Does a figure, a date or a fact look wrong? Tell us: every report is checked.