Elon Musk has confirmed that xAI will open-source its Grok 3 artificial intelligence model, responding with a simple “Yes” to a question about making Grok 3 openly available on X.
The confirmation fulfills a pledge Musk made in August 2025, when xAI released the older Grok 2.5 model on Hugging Face. At that time, Musk stated that Grok 3 would follow in about six months, pointing to a release around February 2026. This follows xAI’s pattern of open-sourcing previous-generation models after newer versions stabilize, as seen with Grok 1 in 2024.
The announcement follows xAI’s release of its Grok-powered recommendation algorithm for the X platform on GitHub in late January. This algorithm determines the content in users’ feeds, playing a crucial role in the platform’s functionality.
xAI initially unveiled Grok 3 in February 2025, having trained it using approximately 200,000 GPUs at its Memphis data center. Musk described Grok 3 as “an order of magnitude more capable” than its predecessor. The model powers various features on X and competes directly with products from OpenAI and Google.
The open-source commitment coincides with a significant financing deal. Apollo Global Management is nearing the completion of a $3.4 billion loan to buy NVIDIA chips for lease to xAI. Valor Equity Partners is arranging the transaction, which could close as early as this week. This marks Apollo’s second such investment in xAI-linked chip-leasing vehicles, following a $3.5 billion loan in November.
In a related development, less than a week before Musk’s confirmation on Grok 3, he announced that SpaceX acquired xAI. The deal values xAI at $250 billion and SpaceX at $1 trillion, marking a significant consolidation in the tech industry.
Despite these advancements, xAI faces several regulatory challenges. The European Commission extended data-retention orders through 2026 under the Digital Services Act, requiring X to preserve internal documents on its algorithms. In the United States, 37 state attorneys general have started coordinated legal action against xAI over content-moderation issues. Additionally, California regulators have ordered xAI to address problems with its image-generation features.
xAI’s decision to release its recommendation algorithm and plans to open-source Grok 3 publicly sets it apart from competitors such as Anthropic and OpenAI, highlighting a distinct approach to AI development and transparency.
