Is GPT-5 showing its might and forcing Musk to "play his trump card"?

In the arena of technology, every move made by industry giants can stir up a storm.

On August 8, 2025, OpenAI made a blockbuster announcement with the launch of GPT - 5. This news instantly ignited the enthusiasm of tech enthusiasts worldwide and sent shockwaves through the entire AI industry.

Just three days later, on August 11, Elon Musk quickly responded by announcing that the Grok 4 model of his xAI company would be fully available for free to all users. This

back - and - forth exchange begs the question: Is it a mere coincidence of timing, or is there a deeper strategic game at play? Today, let's delve deep into this exciting showdown between AI giants.

GPT - 5 Makes a Stunning Debut, Redefining Industry Benchmarks

The release of GPT - 5 was nothing short of a technological extravaganza.

Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, couldn't hide his pride at the launch event. He claimed that GPT - 5 is "the greatest thing since sliced bread."

This assessment is not unfounded. GPT - 5 has achieved a qualitative leap in performance. Its performance in various fields such as mathematics, science, finance, and law is like that of an experienced doctoral expert, capable of providing users with accurate and in - depth answers.

In the AIME 2025 math tool test, GPT - 5 scored an impressive 94.6%. In the SWE - bench Verified test for real - world coding, it also achieved a remarkable 74.9%.

Moreover, GPT - 5 shines even more in multi - modal understanding, scoring as high as 84.2% in the MMMU test.

This means it can easily understand and process various forms of information such as images, text, and audio, bringing users a richer and more comprehensive interactive experience.

The hallucination problem that once plagued models has also been greatly improved in GPT - 5. The probability of it producing factual errors has been significantly reduced compared to previous models.

OpenAI even generously announced that GPT - 5 will be provided for free to all users, whether they are free users, Plus users, Pro users, or team users. Everyone can enjoy the convenience brought by this cutting - edge technology to the fullest.

This move is undoubtedly a declaration to the market that OpenAI aims to consolidate its dominant position in the AI field with absolute technological superiority.

Grok 4 Goes Free: Musk's Way to Break the Deadlock

Facing the aggressive launch of GPT - 5, Elon Musk quickly took a major step by announcing that Grok 4 would be available for free to global users.

Previously, the Grok series was mainly for X Premium users and some enterprise API customers, and users had to pay a monthly fee to use it.

Now, users only need to enable the Automode in Grok, and the system will automatically handle complex queries and route them to Grok 4.

If users want to always use Grok 4, they can switch to the Expert mode. Moreover, during the limited - time event, xAI significantly relaxed the usage limits, allowing users to fully explore the powerful potential of Grok 4.

Grok 4 is no ordinary model. It also demonstrates outstanding capabilities in reasoning, conversation depth, code generation, and multi - modal understanding.

In the Humanity’s Last Exam test, the standard version of Grok 4 achieved a 25.4% correct rate, surpassing Google Gemini 2.5 Pro and some of OpenAI's models. The Grok 4 Heavy version even increased the correct rate to 44.4%, showing a clear advantage.

Elon Musk once confidently stated that Grok 4 is better than a doctor in all disciplines, and its evolution speed is "far beyond any human."

By making Grok 4 free, Musk intends to expand the user base, collect a vast amount of interaction data, further optimize Grok 4, enhance its market competitiveness, and break the pressure brought by GPT - 5.

The Clash of Giants: A Turbulent Industry Landscape

This round of competition between GPT - 5 and Grok 4 has intensified the competition in the AI market.

OpenAI, with the technological lead of GPT - 5 and its free strategy, aims to further expand its market share and consolidate its industry position. Elon Musk, on the other hand, hopes to attract more users and accumulate data through the free availability of Grok 4, in an attempt to stand out in this fierce competition.

The confrontation between these two giants has also put great pressure on other AI companies.

Whether it's OpenAI making GPT - 5 free or Musk leading Grok 4 down the free path, there are dual considerations of business and technology behind it.

From a business perspective, a free strategy can quickly attract a large number of users and form a huge user base.

In the Internet era, users are traffic, and traffic is value. Through free services, companies can collect user data, understand user needs, and lay the foundation for subsequent commercial monetization. For example, companies can achieve profitability through advertising and value - added services.

From a technical perspective, more users using the service means more data feedback.

This real - world user data is crucial for the optimization and improvement of the model. The model can continuously enhance its performance and accuracy by analyzing users' questions and interaction behaviors, forming a positive cycle of technological development.

However, the free strategy is not without risks. With the surge in the number of users, companies face huge pressure on computing power costs. How to effectively control costs while ensuring service quality has become an urgent problem for companies to solve.

The launch of GPT - 5 and the free availability of Grok 4 are just an exciting chapter in the development of AI.

In this technological marathon, there is no finish line, only continuous surpassing and breakthroughs.

This article is from the WeChat official account “XCJ - YY” (ID: xincaijing), author: Chuanchuan. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.