Elon Musk Delays Grok 5 Until Next Year

Elon Musk, founder of xAI, revealed in an exclusive interview with Ron Baron of Baron Capital that the release of the new Grok 5 artificial intelligence model has been postponed until the first quarter of 2026. The model is expected to have a staggering 6 trillion parameters, an enormous number that could lead to major advances in AI behavior. Musk estimates that Grok 5 has about a 10% chance of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), meaning a system capable of thinking and making decisions similarly to a human in a variety of situations. The interview took place on November 14 and was streamed on the X platform, where Musk discussed how xAI builds on real-world data, giving its AI an advantage over the competition.

In this interview, Musk explained why xAI is focused on connecting the physical and digital worlds. Unlike other companies that work only with digital data, xAI uses information from the real-world interactions of 600 million users on the X platform. This allows Grok to train on up-to-date data from the physical world, which could lead to a better understanding of complex tasks. Musk mentioned that xAI started later than its competitors, about two and a half years ago, but is quickly catching up thanks to its rapid pace and unique approaches. For example, it built the Colossus supercomputing data center, which is four times larger than anything else in the world, with tens of thousands of GPUs (graphics processing units) for computation.

New A15 AI chip

Another major announcement from the interview is the A15 chip, which Tesla is developing for AI inference (the process by which AI applies learned knowledge to new data). Musk said the chip will deliver 2 to 3 times the performance of NVIDIA chips at only one-tenth of the cost. It is also designed for low power consumption, which is crucial for applications such as FSD autonomous driving in Tesla cars or Optimus robots. Musk will personally oversee the development of the A15. He sees these chips as a way to reduce reliance on external suppliers and accelerate progress in AI.

Musk also discussed plans for the company’s own giant wafer fabrication plant (wafers are thin slices of silicon used to make chips). The goal is to build it within 1 to 2 years and then expand it indefinitely so that it can supply 10 to 20 billion AI chips within 3 years. This could fundamentally change the availability of hardware for artificial intelligence, as the market is currently constrained by the capacity of companies such as NVIDIA. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, was reportedly amazed by the speed at which xAI is building its facilities and said that only Musk could do it.

Connecting AI with robotics and Neuralink

Musk also touched on how AI such as Grok 5 relates to other projects. For example, the Optimus robot could use A15 chips for better movement and decision-making. Once production reaches 1 million units per year, the cost of Optimus would fall to $20,000 to $30,000 (about CZK 460,000 to 690,000). This includes materials and labor, and Musk considers it a conservative estimate.

One interesting connection is with Neuralink, which has already implanted devices in more than 10 paralyzed patients. They can now communicate in real time, almost as quickly as we are speaking now. Musk described how Optimus legs could be connected to Neuralink, allowing people with disabilities to run faster than able-bodied people at a cost of around $60,000 (about CZK 1,380,000). This would give people with disabilities superpowers, much like in the old TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man."

xAI’s background and dispute with OpenAI

Musk explained why he founded xAI after leaving OpenAI. He originally helped establish OpenAI as a nonprofit organization to counterbalance Google’s influence, where he believed Larry Page was underestimating the risks of AI. Musk provided all the initial funding, recruited talent such as Ilya Sutskever, and even facilitated collaboration with Microsoft and Satya Nadella. When OpenAI became a for-profit company, Musk left because it went against the original idea. He also rejected an offer of an ownership stake because he viewed it as morally wrong.

Now xAI is building on its open-source legacy, similarly to its older Galactica model. Musk emphasized that xAI has an advantage in development speed and access to talent and hardware. For example, Tesla and SpaceX are the greatest manufacturing success stories in the United States since World War II, which helps with building AI infrastructure.

Sources: theinformation.com