Musk announces that the Grok 2 code will be open sourced next week! Why does he insist on doing this?

Elon Musk announced that xAI will open source the code for Grok 2 next week. Let's break down the recent highlights of Grok's upgrades, as well as its differences from GPT-4o and Gemini, and why Musk insists on open sourcing it. (Background: Musk raises a serious question: Can quantum computers crack Bitcoin?) (Supplementary Background: Grok 4 outperformed OpenAI o3 and Gemini 2.5 Pro in intelligence scoring! Is the multifaceted competition shifting to the political arena?) The global competition for AI large language models has not paused. Musk announced today that next week will be the time to open source Grok 2. His fourth-generation language model, Grok 4, was previously launched on July 9, focusing on larger multimodal inputs and enhanced reasoning. We will depict the timeline of Grok's release and technical breakthroughs according to an inverted pyramid structure, compare Grok with GPT-4o and Gemini, and finally analyze why Musk maintains an 'open-source philosophy.' It's high time we open sourced Grok 2. Will make it happen next week. We’ve just been fighting fires and burning the 4am oil nonstop for a while now. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2025 Countdown to Grok 4: Timeline and Core Upgrades The steps in the Grok series iterations are quite clear. Grok 2 went online in August 2024, providing 128,000 tokens of context and image generation. Grok 3, released in early 2025, further enhanced reasoning. According to publicly available information, Grok 4 will debut on July 9, expecting to incorporate more comprehensive multimodal inputs and strengthen long-text reasoning, attempting to expand application scenarios. Following Musk's convention of 'new version release, previous version open source,' Grok 2 is set to be open sourced next week, allowing developers to freely experiment with the source code. Differences from GPT-4o and Gemini Currently, the three major models each have their strengths: Grok 4: Through deep integration with X (Twitter), it can read community dynamics in real-time, particularly quickly monitoring market sentiment or topics, with a monthly fee of about $16 (X Premium+). GPT-4 / 4o: Excels in natural conversation, programming tools, and multilingual support, with a business version that offers customization, subscription prices ranging from $20 to $25. Gemini 2.5 Pro / Advanced: Offers a massive context inclusion of up to 1,000,000 tokens and fully supports text, images, audio, and video, deeply integrated with Google Workspace, with a monthly fee of about $20. In terms of user dialogue style, Grok approaches a young audience with humor, avant-garde, and 'anti-traditional' tones. GPT-4o emphasizes fluency and humanization; Gemini leans towards formality and task orientation. In terms of multimodal capabilities, Grok 4 has released Grok Imagine to complement video and audio production features, but catching up to Gemini's completeness still requires development. Further Reading: Grok Imagine lands on the App Store for download, with a 'naughty mode' that can produce semi-nude edgy videos and images. The Reason Behind Musk's Preference for Open Source Musk emphasizes that AI must remain transparent and verifiable. He has positioned Grok as a tool that 'maximizes the pursuit of truth' and is 'anti-woke,' implementing open source in practice. He has said: We want anyone to examine the model, identify biases, and correct them together. The open-source strategy breaks the monopoly of closed models, lowers entry barriers, and sparks controversy. Open source allows more researchers to scrutinize algorithms, but Grok does not shy away from sensitive topics and has been pointed out for producing offensive content. Therefore, xAI has added prompt examples and content filtering options to balance freedom and responsibility. In the market's projected future, Grok's real-time intelligence advantage may extend to Musk's ventures, such as Tesla's autonomous driving and SpaceX's wireless satellite networks. Whether open source becomes mainstream remains to be seen, but transparency and accountability are becoming new competitive thresholds in the AI industry. As the Grok series moves towards open sourcing, it may take over two years for the market to reflect on whether 'rapid iteration, real-time data, and open-source spirit' is a powerful means of leading AI commercialization. Related Reports Musk raises a serious question: Can quantum computers crack Bitcoin? Tesla Diner opens with a bang! What surprises has Musk given people with Tesla charging stations and American cuisine? Peter Thiel discusses humanity's stagnation: Since 2024, Musk no longer believes in Mars. "Musk announces that the Grok 2 code will be open sourced next week! Why does he insist on doing this?" This article was first published in BlockTempo, the most influential blockchain news media.