xAI's Grok 4 to launch soon with major coding upgrades
What's the story
Elon Musk has clarified that his artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, will be skipping the release of Grok 3.5 and moving straight to Grok 4, which is expected to launch sometime after July 4. This decision comes as xAI needs another training cycle for its dedicated coding model, a major focus of this upcoming version. The company seems to be re-evaluating its strategy as OpenAI and Google released powerful new models that set a higher benchmark for language model performance.
Advanced features
It will have a native coding interface
The next version of Grok is expected to improve coding assistance, an area that is becoming more competitive. The latest codebase findings show that xAI is developing a native code editor within the Grok web interface, similar to VSCode. This would let Grok directly edit, write, or debug code and shows a shift toward "agentic coding," where AI does more than just suggest code in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
Twitter Post
Take a look at Musk's post
Grinding on @Grok all night with the @xAI team. Good progress.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 27, 2025
Will be called Grok 4. Release just after July 4th. Needs one more big run for a specialized coding model.
Model structure
Web-based or expand to standalone desktop app?
Grok is designed as a system of specialized models, such as Reasoning, Search, etc., and now looks set to have a stronger coding component. While the promise of improved coding abilities is huge, it's still unclear whether this will stay web-based or expand to a standalone desktop app. However, either option would help Grok compete more effectively with other AI assistants that offer deeper integration for developers.
Tool evolution
Grok 4 could help xAI compete better in the market
The updates around Grok 4 indicate a move toward more sophisticated, integrated development tools driven by AI. For xAI, this fits into its larger plan to remain at the forefront of generative AI, not just keeping up with but trying to outdo features from major competitors with every new version. However, much will depend on how well Grok 4 performs in practice as the competition heats up.