A Comprehensive Analysis of xAI’s Grok ModelsThe report
Coming end Jan/2025…
(Available exclusively to full subscribers of The Memo.)
Abstract
The xAI Grok series of large language models represents one of the most fascinating disruptions in artificial intelligence history. Since launching in March 2023, the series has evolved rapidly from a 33B parameter prototype to planned frontier models measured in trillions of parameters. xAI maintains secrecy around Grok, releasing no comprehensive technical documentation about its architecture, training methodology, or datasets. This report presents the first quantitative analysis of xAI’s closely guarded development process, exploring Grok’s architecture, datasets, tokens, parameters, and capabilities across several major model announcements. Using data from the Twitter platform, and training on Colossus—said to be 2024’s largest AI supercomputer—Grok represents an ambitious project in scale and development speed. Building on the acclaimed reports What’s in my AI? (2022), and What’s in GPT-5? (2024), this analysis reveals the details of xAI’s rapid path to superintelligence.
Contents
1. Overview
2. xAI
Knowledge transfer through staff migration
3. The Grok series of models
Grok-0
Grok-1
Grok-1.5 (+ Grok-1.5V)
Grok-2 (+ Grok-2-Vision, + Grok-2-mini, + Aurora)
Grok-3
Grok-Video
Grok-4
Grok-5
4. Dataset: Twitter posts
5. Dataset: Twitter outbound links
6. Dataset: Everything else
7. Hardware: Colossus
8. Model size estimate
9. Integrated AI: Grok + Optimus humanoid robots
10. Integrated AI: Grok + brain-machine interfacing
11. Conclusion
12. Further reading
Appendix A: Datasets Table (Jan/2025 snapshot)
Viz. Igor Babuschkin: AI paper highlights. Jan/2025. LifeArchitect.ai
Image. Grok-2 + Aurora. Prompt by Musk’s four-year-old son, X: ‘Bunnies flying spaceships in Star Wars with a monster truck.’ Jan/2025. LifeArchitect.ai
Reviews
Received by all major AI labs & intergovernmental orgs.
List of figures and tables
Image generated in a few seconds, on 1 January 2025, text prompt by Alan D. Thompson, via Google Imagen 3-002 (mobile portrait 3:4): ‘black on white data pattern, colossus supercomputer, HDR 3d graphic’
Viz and tables
Viz. Where will AGI be born? Dec/2024.
<See full report for details.>
Table. Major papers by Igor Babuschkin. LifeArchitect.ai
Chart. Employee headcounts at ‘Big 5’ AI labs. 2025.
<See full report for details.>
Table. Timeline of Grok models announcements. Estimates in italics.
Chart. xAI Grok series: MMLU scores (2023–2025).
<See full report for details.>
Calculations. NVIDIA Cosmos video dataset. Jan/2025. Source with full working: LifeArchitect.ai/Cosmos
<See full report for details.>
Viz. Journey to Grok-5 (2023–2025).
<See full report for details.>
Table. Twitter text calculations. Tweets after usernames, links, retweets removed.
<See full report for details.>
Table. Twitter outbound links by domain to 2018. Source: GDELT, calcs: Alan.
<See full report for details.>
Viz. Contents of xAI Grok. Jan/2025.
<See full report for details.>
Table. Dataset sizes needed to align with 20:1 data optimization for models.
<See full report for details.>
Image. xAI Colossus supercomputer racks. Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Oct/2024.
<See full report for details.>
Table. Grok training cost and power draw. H100≈$40k (2024), TPD≈1400W/card. LifeArchitect.ai
<See full report for details.>
Image. Tesla Optimus Gen 2 humanoid robot. Dec/2023. Source: Tesla.
Viz. Brain-machine interface benefits. Sep/2021.
<See full report for details.>
Image. Ear clip concept by Card79 commissioned by Neuralink. 2019. Source: Card79.com.
Viz. Frontier AI models + highlights (Jan/2025). LifeArchitect.ai
| Date | Title |
| Jan/2025 | What's in Grok? (paper) |
| Jan/2025 | NVIDIA Cosmos video dataset (page) |
| Aug/2024 | What's in GPT-5? (paper) |
| Jul/2024 | Argonne National Laboratory AuroraGPT (page) |
| Sep/2023 | Google DeepMind Gemini: A general specialist (paper) |
| Aug/2022 | Google Pathways (paper) |
| Mar/2022 | What's in my AI? (GPT-1, GPT-2, GPT-3, MT-NLG, Chinchilla...) |
| Sep/2021 | Megatron the Transformer, and related language models (page) |
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Alan D. Thompson is a world expert in artificial intelligence, advising everyone from Apple to the US Government on integrated AI. Throughout Mensa International’s history, both Isaac Asimov and Alan held leadership roles, each exploring the frontier between human and artificial minds. His landmark analysis of post-2020 AI—from his widely-cited Models Table to his regular intelligence briefing The Memo—has shaped how governments and Fortune 500s approach artificial intelligence. With popular tools like the Declaration on AI Consciousness, and the ASI checklist, Alan continues to illuminate humanity’s AI evolution. Technical highlights.This page last updated: 20/Jan/2025. https://lifearchitect.ai/whats-in-grok/↑
