xAI, the AI startup of Elon Musk, has open-sourced its Grok 2.5 model. It means the model is now freely available for developers and researchers worldwide. Musk announced the update on Saturday via a post on X, his social media platform, where he also revealed that the company’s upcoming Grok 3 model will follow suit in about six months.
The @xAI Grok 2.5 model, which was our best model last year, is now open source.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2025
Grok 3 will be made open source in about 6 months. https://t.co/TXM0wyJKOh
Musk has always been keen for transparency in AI development, a stance that sets xAI apart from rivals who keep their most advanced systems proprietary. Open-sourcing models allows the broader tech community to experiment, test, and build applications on top of them, while also exposing them to wider security scrutiny.
Apart from that, the announcement also comes amid Musk’s sharp criticism of OpenAI, the company he co-founded and later left. Musk has accused OpenAI of straying from its original mission of making AI development open and beneficial for all of humanity. He has even filed a lawsuit against the company over its shift toward a more closed, profit-driven approach.
There are some experts saying that the release of Grok 2.5 could help researchers better understand how state-of-the-art models are built, potentially speeding up innovation in the sector. Besides, it also puts pressure on competitors to balance profitability with accessibility.
Interestingly, xAI also confirmed that its latest and most powerful model, Grok 4, is now free for all users worldwide. Grok 4 is designed to rival or surpass advanced systems from OpenAI and Google with features such as tool use, real-time search integration, multimodal processing across text, images, and audio, and a massive context window. It is also capable of executing code, analyzing media, and tackling complex problem-solving using its advanced “Heavy” mode, where multiple AI agents work together.
Now, who will win this battle of AI models is something only time will tell. But if you are interested in getting all the latest updates about tech and AI first, then do join us on WhatsApp.
