Grok AI: How to Use xAI's Real-Time AI Assistant

Grok is the AI assistant built by xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company. What sets it apart from ChatGPT and Claude is its real-time access to posts on X (formerly Twitter) and a personality that ranges from helpful to irreverently witty. If you want an AI that knows what happened five minutes ago and is not afraid to be sarcastic about it, Grok is worth exploring.

What Makes Grok Different

Grok's defining feature is real-time data access. While most AI assistants work from training data that is weeks or months old, Grok can pull from live X/Twitter posts to answer questions about current events, trending topics, and breaking news. Ask it "What's happening with the stock market right now?" and it synthesizes recent posts and data rather than giving you a months-old snapshot. The second differentiator is personality. Grok has a Fun Mode that delivers responses with humor, sarcasm, and pop culture references. It will answer questions that other AI assistants refuse to engage with, making it feel less filtered and more conversational.

How to Access Grok

Grok is available through X Premium and X Premium+ subscriptions. X Premium costs $8/month and includes basic Grok access. X Premium+ at $16/month provides higher usage limits and priority access to new features like Grok's image generation and analysis capabilities. You can access Grok directly in the X app by tapping the Grok icon in the navigation bar, through the dedicated grok.x.ai website, or via the standalone Grok mobile app. A free tier with limited daily queries is also available to all X users.

Key Features to Try

Real-time search lets you ask about anything happening on X right now, from sports scores to political developments. Image understanding allows you to upload photos and get detailed analysis, descriptions, or answers to questions about the visual content. Image generation powered by the Flux model creates images from text descriptions. DeepSearch performs multi-step research by searching the web, reading multiple sources, and synthesizing comprehensive answers. Reasoning mode tackles complex math, logic, and coding problems step by step. The Fun Mode vs Regular Mode toggle lets you choose between a witty personality and a straightforward assistant.

Grok for Research and Current Events

Where Grok truly excels is current events research. Because it has direct access to the firehose of X posts, it can identify emerging stories, gauge public sentiment, and surface diverse viewpoints faster than traditional search. Journalists, researchers, and traders use Grok to monitor real-time developments. You can ask questions like "What are people saying about the new iPhone announcement?" or "Summarize the debate around the latest AI regulation bill" and get answers grounded in what people are actually posting right now.

Grok vs ChatGPT and Claude

ChatGPT has a broader feature set with custom GPTs, a massive plugin ecosystem, and deeper integration with productivity tools. Claude offers superior long-form writing and careful reasoning. Grok's advantages are real-time data, unfiltered personality, and its unique position inside the X social platform. For users who value current information and a more entertaining interaction style, Grok fills a niche that other assistants do not. The image generation capabilities are also competitive, and the pricing is more affordable than ChatGPT Plus.

Getting Started

If you already have an X account, you can try Grok for free with limited daily queries. For full access, subscribe to X Premium at $8/month. Open the X app, tap the Grok icon, and start with a current events question to see the real-time capabilities in action. Toggle Fun Mode on for a taste of Grok's personality.