Elon Musk publicly announces plans to reveal the underlying code of Grok 2, his advanced chatbot
The AI startup xAI, known for developing the Grok 2 AI-based chatbot, has announced several significant updates to its chatbot, including the launch of Grok 4, the introduction of Grok Imagine, and plans to monetize the service.
Grok 4 and Free Availability
Grok 4, the latest AI version from xAI, was launched about a month ago and has recently been made available for free worldwide for a limited time. Previously, access was restricted to paying subscribers of SuperGrok and X Premium tiers. However, the most powerful version, Grok 4 Heavy, remains exclusive to paid SuperGrok Heavy members.
Operating Modes and Multimodal AI
Grok 4 offers two modes: Auto mode, which automatically determines if deeper reasoning is needed for faster responses and resource efficiency, and Expert mode, which lets users manually trigger in-depth reasoning for more detailed replies. Additionally, xAI introduced Grok Imagine, a multimodal AI tool integrated with Grok. It supports text- or image-prompted generation of short videos with native audio, including an explicit-content-permitted "spicy mode" that allows sexually explicit, semi-nude generated content.
Content Moderation Challenges and Monetization
Despite its impressive speed and intuitive interface, Grok Imagine has sparked some controversy due to its explicit content capabilities and related misuse concerns. To offset the high GPU running costs, xAI revealed plans to integrate advertising into Grok's chat interface on both web and mobile platforms. Ads will appear between chatbot responses and suggestions.
Job Listing for Developer Engineer
The ongoing feature releases, API launch, and platform expansions strongly imply active hiring and development efforts at xAI. Interested developers would likely focus on AI model integration, API development, multimodal capabilities (image/video generation), and content moderation features. xAI posted a job listing for a developer engineer to work on creating AI companions for the Grok chatbot.
Founding and Salary Information
xAI was founded in April 2023. The salary for the developer engineer position at xAI ranges from $180,000 to $440,000 per year. The position also includes a company stake and other bonuses.
Grok 2 Source Code Release
American entrepreneur at X (formerly Twitter) has announced plans to open the source code of Grok 2. The release of the source code for Grok 2 is scheduled for next week.
Characteristics of Grok Chatbot
Grok chatbot is known for its absence of censorship and real-time access to up-to-date data. The focus of the recruitment for the developer engineer position is on making Grok's avatars fast, scalable, and reliable.
[1] Business Insider, "xAI Announces Plans to Monetize Grok Chatbot with Advertising," 2025.
[2] TechCrunch, "xAI Makes Grok 4 Free for Limited Time," 2025.
[3] Wired, "Grok Imagine: xAI's New Multimodal AI Tool Sparks Controversy," 2025.
[4] The Verge, "Grok Imagine: A Closer Look at xAI's Explicit Content AI Tool," 2025.
[5] The Guardian, "xAI's Grok Chatbot Suspended Over Antisemitic Content and Misinformation," 2025.
Technology and artificial-intelligence continue to be at the forefront of xAI's efforts, as demonstrated by the launch of Grok 4 and the introduction of Grok Imagine, a multimodal AI tool integrated with Grok. Despite some controversy arising from Grok Imagine's explicit content capabilities, xAI plans to monetize the service through advertising integration, aiming to offset its high GPU running costs.
