Grok
Grok is xAI's assistant, built into both grok.com and the X app, with a focus on real-time information. We'll start with the basics, then look at its most useful features, current plan options, and a few practical ways to get clearer replies.
What is Grok?
Grok is a chat-based assistant built by xAI, Elon Musk's AI company. Type a question or a task in plain English and it replies conversationally, keeping track of what was said earlier in the chat so you can ask follow-ups without repeating yourself.
It runs on xAI's Grok family of models, and it's closely tied to X (formerly Twitter): it can pull in live posts as part of an answer, and it's available directly inside the X app as well as on its own site.
Getting started
- Go to grok.com.
- Sign up with an email address, or continue with a Google account.
- Type a question in the message box at the bottom and press Enter.
- Stay in the same thread for follow-up questions; it keeps the context.
What Grok can do
These are the features most likely to matter in everyday use. The examples show the sort of request each one handles well.
Writing & editing
Drafts, emails, summaries, and rewriting text in a different tone.
Coding help
Explain an error message, write a function, or review code you paste in.
items[5] on a 3-item list. Check the list's length with len(items) before indexing.Real-time answers from X
Grok can bring in current posts from X as part of its answer, useful for what's happening right now.
DeepSearch
A slower research mode that reads multiple sources before answering, for questions worth double-checking.
A slower, more thorough mode for research-style questions with several sources.
Image & video generation
Describe a scene in words and get a generated image or short video back, using Grok Imagine.
The image (or short video, with Grok Imagine) shows up right in the chat, and you can view it full-size or download it.
Voice mode
Talk out loud and get a spoken reply back. Handy when you're on your phone.
"Summarize this article for me." The spoken reply plays back automatically.
Pricing tiers
xAI adjusts pricing and usage limits fairly often, so check the official pricing page before you subscribe. The plan differences are easiest to see side by side:
- · Everyday chat and questions
- · Limited daily messages
- · Available on grok.com and X
- · Higher limits than Free
- · Grok Imagine access
- · Good starting paid tier
- · The main standalone paid tier
- · Higher limits everywhere
- · Access to the newest models
- · Highest usage limits
- · Multi-agent reasoning mode
- · For the heaviest daily use
Grok access is also bundled into X Premium and Premium+ subscriptions, so if you already pay for X, check what your plan already includes before subscribing separately.
Prompting tips
- Say what you want the output to look like: a list, a table, a short paragraph.
- Give context: who the answer is for, and what you already know.
- If the task is underspecified, ask it to ask you questions first ("ask me anything you need before answering").
- If the first reply isn't quite right, just say exactly what to change and try again.
- For anything about current events or what's happening right now, ask it to check X or the web instead of relying on memory alone.
More usage details live in xAI and X's help center.
Where Grok is strongest
Grok is covered later in this AI Tools Course, after ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, DeepSeek, and Copilot. Up next is Meta AI. After that, app builders, image tools, and video/audio tools.