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Grok 3's Rocky Rollout
Musk and xAI announce the long-awaited Grok 3, but with a few caveats
Mark Chepelyuk
February 18, 2025
Elon Musk's xAI officially unleashed Grok 3, claiming the "smartest AI on Earth" but with rollout and and beta mode issues. The full release with native voice will actually be next week. Many X premium + members are not yet able to access Grok 3.
Here’s what you need to know about AI today:
Musk launches Grok 3 with advanced reasoning
NYT approves AI for newsroom tasks
Mexico threatens Google over map naming
Figure AI nears $39B valuation
Today’s Deep Dive:
Image Source: Grok
🚀 Grok's Big Moment
Elon Musk's xAI releases Grok 3, claiming superior performance across key benchmarks.
Key Details:
Trained on 200,000 GPUs
Outperforms GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 on benchmarks
Includes "Think Mode" and "Big Brain Mode"
DeepSearch feature for real-time analysis
Voice mode coming next week
Why It Matters: Grok 3's arrival changes the competitive landscape after just two years of development. Beyond benchmark scores, it proves scaling laws still hold—throwing more compute at AI continues to yield better results. The real question remains whether performance advantages will translate to user adoption against ChatGPT's 300 million users.
Image source: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
📰 NYT Embraces AI
The New York Times approves AI tools for editing, summaries, and coding tasks.
Key Details:
Creates internal "Echo" tool for summaries
Approves GitHub Copilot, Google Vertex AI
Bans AI for article drafting and image generation
Still pursuing OpenAI copyright lawsuit
Other publishers following similar paths
Why It Matters: This isn't just about efficiency—it's about journalism's digital transformation. As one of the world's most respected news organizations embraces AI tools while maintaining human oversight, it sets a precedent for how traditional media can adapt to technological change.
Image Source: Luis Barron/ Pixelnews/Future Publishing and Drew Angerer via Getty Images
🗺️ Mexico's Digital Border Dispute
Mexico threatens legal action against Google for "Gulf of America" mapping label.
Key Details:
Trump executive order prompted name change
Mexican users still see "Gulf of Mexico"
US users only see "Gulf of America"
Google claims it follows official government sources
President Sheinbaum argues US jurisdiction doesn't apply
Why It Matters: This dispute reveals how digital maps have become battlegrounds for national identity. As tech platforms increasingly control how we see the world, the question of who gets to name geographic features extends beyond traditional geopolitics into the realm of digital sovereignty.
Image Source: Figure
🦾 Figure's Humanoid Leap
Figure AI nears $1.5B funding round at $39B+ valuation, 15x higher than previous round.
Key Details:
Actively generating revenue from BMW contract
Already deployed in real factories
Planning to ship 100,000 units in four years
Recently ended OpenAI partnership
Secured second major US customer
Why It Matters: Figure's massive valuation jump signals a shift in investor confidence from language models to physical AI. With real customers and working robots, they're moving beyond demos to practical applications. The humanoid robot market is heating up with Meta, Apple, and others joining the race, potentially creating what Goldman Sachs estimates could become a $38T industry by 2035.
🛠️ Trending AI Tools
✨ Grok 3: Advanced reasoning AI with DeepSearch
🤖 Mistral Saba: Arabic and South Asian language model
🎭 Animate Anyone 2: Transform still images into fluid character animations
📊 Echo: NYT's internal AI summarization tool