Musk's Grok AI loses steam amid rise of ChatGPT, Claude
What's the story
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Grok, is losing its initial momentum. The decline comes despite the early success of the controversial and viral features it offered. According to analytics firm AppMagic, downloads of Grok have flattened sharply in recent months. Meanwhile, competitors like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini continue to grow rapidly in consumer and enterprise markets globally.
Download decline
Grok downloads have dropped significantly since January
Grok's download numbers have taken a major hit, according to AppMagic data. The chatbot was downloaded some 8.3 million times in April, a sharp fall from its high of over 20 million in January. The early surge in downloads was partly due to the introduction of tools that let users virtually undress people in photos, a feature that went viral online and sparked controversy.
Controversy and restrictions
Controversial features invite global bans
The controversial feature of Grok, which allowed users to create sexually explicit images of celebrities, influencers, and ordinary people, drew criticism from lawmakers, regulators, and child safety groups. Reports also indicated that the system was being used on images of minors. As a result of these concerns over non-consensual deepfake content involving women and children, several countries temporarily restricted or banned access to Grok's image-generation features.
Adoption stagnation
Paid adoption remains low
Research firm Recon Analytics found that Grok's paid adoption has remained nearly unchanged over the past year. In a survey of over 260,000 American AI users and workers, only 0.174% said they had paid for Grok in Q2 2026. This was hardly any different from the previous year's figure of 0.173%. In comparison, more than 6% of respondents reported paying for ChatGPT.
Enterprise challenges
Struggles in enterprise sector
Grok is also failing to make a mark in the enterprise sector, where AI coding assistants and workplace productivity tools are becoming increasingly popular. Enterprise Technology Research found that only 7% of surveyed companies were using and planning to continue using Grok. In comparison, competitors like Claude and Gemini have seen much stronger adoption growth across enterprise teams.
Strategic shift
Musk's SpaceX to help rival AI firm Anthropic
As Grok struggles to keep up, Musk has made a surprising move behind the scenes. In early May, SpaceX signed a deal to provide Anthropic with massive computing capacity at one of Musk's main AI data centers. The deal gives Anthropic access to the full capacity of the Colossus 1 facility near Memphis, Tennessee. It could generate billions of dollars annually for SpaceX and marks a dramatic shift from Musk's earlier attacks on Anthropic's AI as "misanthropic and evil."