Grok 4 Just Went Live: Why Elon Musk Says It’s Smarter Than Most PhDs

What Is Grok 4 🚀, and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?

Elon Musk doesn’t just launch rockets. He launches disruption. And this time, it’s with Grok 4, the latest version of his AI chatbot developed by xAI, now officially rolled out to premium users on X (formerly Twitter).

This isn’t just another chatbot in the line-up of AI tools crowding the market. According to Musk, Grok 4 isn’t just competitive, it’s revolutionary. He claims it has outperformed PhD students in multiple disciplines, shows advanced reasoning, and may soon challenge the very limits of what artificial intelligence can do.

So what exactly is Grok 4? And why are tech insiders, educators, and everyday users all glued to their screens trying it out?

Let’s break it all down.

🧠 Elon Musk’s Bold Claim: “Smarter Than Most PhDs”

Yes, you read that right.

In typical Musk fashion, the rollout of Grok 4 came with no shortage of bold statements. The biggest headline? He says Grok 4 is “smarter than most PhDs.” According to Musk and his xAI team, Grok 4 scored incredibly high on a range of academic benchmark exams, including tests in math, science, history, law, and logic.

It’s been tested on:

• ARC-AGI-2, a benchmark to measure general reasoning
• HumanEval for programming and code generation
• Humanity’s Last Exam, an AI challenge test designed to simulate human academic performance

Apparently, Grok 4 didn’t just pass—it excelled. That’s why Musk believes it can outperform most graduate-level humans in real-world problem solving.

But while academic test scores can be impressive, there’s more to intelligence than just book smarts.

⚙️ What’s New in Grok 4?

Here’s what sets Grok 4 apart from earlier versions and its competitors like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini:

✅ 1. Multi-Agent Reasoning

Grok 4 introduces a new “Heavy” version that runs multiple internal agents at once. This mimics how different experts might debate a topic before agreeing on the best answer. It's priced at $300/month, compared to the standard $30/month tier.

✅ 2. Live Internet Search with DeepSearch

This is where Grok stands out. While most AI models rely on knowledge cutoffs, Grok 4 can access the live web via DeepSearch, giving it an edge in real-time fact-checking and trend detection.

✅ 3. Voice and Multimodal Interaction

Grok 4 is equipped with voice capabilities, meme fluency, and cultural context. Future versions will reportedly support image recognition, and eventually video input and output.

✅ 4. Hosted on “Colossus” Supercomputer

Grok 4 runs on a super-powered custom data center in Memphis called Colossus. This infrastructure allows high-speed, large-scale processing with minimal latency—essential for the multi-agent capabilities Grok 4 claims.

💸 Subscription Details: Is It Worth Paying $300/Month?

While the regular Grok 4 is priced similarly to other chatbots at $30/month, the Grok 4 Heavy version costs $300/month.

So, who is it for?

This higher-tier model is designed for enterprise-level users, researchers, coders, and developers who want elite-level output, faster responses, and enhanced reasoning.

For casual users, the regular Grok 4 already offers an impressive leap beyond its earlier iterations—and gives you Musk’s latest brainchild for the price of a few coffees.

What About the Controversies?

No new AI model comes without baggage, and Grok 4 is no exception.

Earlier this year, Grok 3 faced backlash after some of its responses included antisemitic content. That prompted concern about how the model was trained and moderated. Since then, xAI has reportedly implemented stricter moderation tools and fine-tuned filters to avoid similar issues in Grok 4.

Still, questions remain about AI bias, free speech moderation, and how much control Musk himself may have over Grok’s “tone.”

📊 Grok 4 vs ChatGPT, Gemini & Claude

Real-Time Web Access:

• Grok 4 has full real-time web access through its DeepSearch feature.
• ChatGPT-4o has limited web browsing via Bing (available to Pro users).
• Gemini 1.5 Pro offers limited real-time access depending on usage.
• Claude 3 Opus does not offer live internet browsing.

Multimodal Input:

• Grok 4 is currently developing multimodal input (images, video, voice).
• ChatGPT-4o already supports images, text, and voice.
• Gemini 1.5 Pro supports images and audio.
• Claude 3 Opus supports text and image inputs.

Reasoning Power:

• Grok 4 is claimed to operate at a PhD-level across multiple academic domains.
• ChatGPT-4o, Gemini, and Claude all offer strong reasoning capabilities, but Grok 4 is aiming to outperform them with its multi-agent system.

API Access:

• Grok 4 offers open API access for developers and businesses.
• ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude also offer developer APIs.

Free Version Availability:

• Grok 4 does not currently offer a free version.
• ChatGPT has a widely used free version (based on GPT-3.5).
• Gemini and Claude both offer free access with some limitations.

🔮 What’s Next for Grok?

Musk says Grok 5 and Grok 6 are already in development, with targets that include:

• Coding-specialist agents (August 2025)
• Multimodal AI that sees and hears (September 2025)
• Video-generating AI models (October 2025)

xAI’s long-term vision includes offering Grok as an API for businesses, developers, educators, and potentially even governments. It’s not just about building a chatbot. It’s about building an ecosystem that competes with OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.

🧠 Final Thoughts: Is Grok 4 the Future or Just Hype?

Let’s be honest: Elon Musk knows how to stir the internet. And Grok 4 is no exception.

But this time, the hype seems to carry real weight. With advanced reasoning, real-time web access, voice interaction, and the potential for video-based intelligence coming soon, Grok 4 isn’t just a gimmick.

It’s a signal that AI is evolving faster than we imagined. Whether or not it’s smarter than your PhD professor, one thing is clear:

Grok 4 is here. It’s loud. It’s ambitious. And it may just be the next frontier of artificial intelligence.