Svmuureports that Musk's artificial intelligence model, Grok, is lagging far behind its fast-growing competitors. Furthermore, a massive computing power lease agreement between its parent company, SpaceX, and Anthropic has raised external doubts about whether Grok can still catch up with industry leaders.
Since its launch two years ago, Grok has attracted millions of users through its integration with Musk's social platform X and controversial features like "AI companions." However, the latest data suggests its growth momentum may have stalled. Data from analytics firm AppMagic shows that Grok's downloads fell to approximately 8.3 million in April this year, down from over 20 million in January.
According to a survey by research firm Recon Analytics involving over 260,000 U.S. AI users and professionals, the proportion of respondents willing to pay for Grok in the second quarter of 2026 remained nearly flat at just 0.174%, compared to 0.173% a year earlier. In contrast, over 6% of respondents reported having paid for ChatGPT. (Jin Shi)