Elon Musk and his xAI team are getting ready to release new AI tools in the coming weeks. According to xAI, they will launch the Grok 3 mini API for developers, the advanced Grok 3 AI model with better problem-solving abilities, and a new tool called DeepSearch. These AI tools will be available on đť•Ź (formerly Twitter) and Grok.com for Premium and Premium+ users.
Grok 3 Mini: A Budget-Friendly AI Solution for Developers
The Grok 3 mini API is a special tool that lets computer programs talk to Grok’s AI system (an API is like a translator between different computer programs). What makes it stand out is its price. Grok 3 mini costs much less than similar AI tools from other companies.
Let’s start with Grok 3 Mini.
When we set out to build a fast, affordable mini model, we knew it would be good but even we didn’t expect it to be this good. Some highlights:
– Grok 3 Mini tops the leaderboards on graduate-level STEM, math, and coding, outcompeting flagship… pic.twitter.com/7PLDX44O7B
— xAI (@xai) April 18, 2025
| AI Model | Input Cost (per million tokens) | Output Cost (per million tokens) |
|---|---|---|
| Grok 3 mini | $0.30 | $0.50 |
| OpenAI’s o3-mini | $1.50 | $6.00 |
| GPT-4o | $2.50 | $10.00 |
This makes Grok 3 mini up to 5 times cheaper than competitors. Tokens are like pieces of text (words or parts of words) that AI systems process. The fewer tokens used, the less it costs to run the AI.
Despite being cheaper, Grok 3 mini performs very well. It scored 0.828 on the MMLU benchmark (a test that checks how well AI understands many different subjects), beating OpenAI’s o3-mini (0.815) and DeepSeek R1 (0.810).
Advanced Reasoning: How Grok 3 Solves Complex Problems
The full Grok 3 model has impressive problem-solving skills. It achieved a score of 93.3% on the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), a very difficult math test for talented high school students. This shows it can handle complex math, science, and coding problems.
Grok 3 uses two special techniques to solve hard problems:
- Reinforcement learning – This is like training a dog with treats, but for AI. The system gets “rewards” when it gives good answers, helping it learn what works best.
- Test-time compute – This gives the AI extra thinking time for difficult questions. It’s like when you take more time to think through a hard problem.
Grok 3 includes special modes called “Think” and “Big Brain” that help it tackle complex questions. These features make Grok 3 better at reasoning than many other AI systems, including GPT-4.5 and Claude 3.5 in certain tasks. What’s unique about Grok 3 is that you can see how it thinks through problems step by step.
DeepSearch: A New Way to Find and Connect Information
Another exciting new tool is DeepSearch, an AI helper that can find and connect information from many different sources. Think of it like a super-smart research assistant that not only finds facts but also puts them together in helpful ways.
Grok 3 has a huge “context window” of 1 million tokens. The context window is like the AI’s short-term memory – how much information it can think about at once. A typical book might have about 75,000 tokens, so Grok 3 can process information equivalent to about 13 books at the same time.
The system was trained on what xAI calls the “Colossus supercluster,” which is like a massive group of very powerful computers working together. This training used 10 times more computing power than previous Grok models, which helps explain its improved abilities.
When and How You Can Use Grok 3
The Grok 3 mini API will be available to developers in the coming weeks. The main Grok 3 system and DeepSearch are already available to some users on đť•Ź (Twitter) and will continue to improve with frequent updates.
To access these tools, you’ll need to be a Premium or Premium+ subscriber on 𝕏. Different user levels will have different usage limits, though xAI hasn’t shared the exact details yet.
Elon Musk claims that Grok has the “fastest rate of improvement of any AI.” The xAI team plans to keep training and updating their AI systems regularly to make them even better.
For developers looking for affordable AI tools and users wanting advanced problem-solving capabilities, Grok 3 offers a promising new option in the growing AI market. With its combination of lower costs and strong performance, it could help more people and businesses use AI technology in their work and projects.
