Grok, the chatbot built by Elon Musk-owned xAI, is going it alone. It's getting a standalone app for iPhone and its own dedicated website at grok.com.
Until now Grok has only been available with an X account, but to help it better compete with industry leaders like Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, xAI is launching a version that won't require an X account to get access.
The move comes as X makes Grok available for free for all users and more deeply integrates it into the platform, including allowing images to be generated from a post or to use Grok to fix any grammar or spelling issues before posting.
The app is currently only available in Australia and a handful of countries while xAI tests it but it will likely be available everywhere soon.
What can you do with Grok?
Grok has come a long way in a very short time. When it first launched at the end of last year it was well behind the capabilities of Google Gemini, OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude.
The team behind it at xAI seems to have been working very hard to close that gap though, as its text and code responses are as good as other leading models, and it can now analyze and generate images.
Its image generation model is very impressive. I put Grok to the test vs Imagen 3 from Google Gemini in a 7-round face-off, and Grok fared quite well in terms of realism.
When the standalone app is available, users will have access to all the same features found in Grok on X, including real-time data from the web and the X platform.
While not confirmed, it looks like you'll be able to sign up for a Grok account with either an X.com account or a Google login.
