As Grok flounders, SpaceX bets future on beating Big Tech at AI

Corporate use of Claude and Google Gemini rose substantially over the past year. Claude usage among surveyed companies increased from 21% to 48% between 2025 and 2026. Gemini usage increased from 27% to 40% over the same period. Grok corporate usage rose from 4% to 7%. SpaceX described new Grok Business, Grok Enterprise, Grok API, and xAI Gov offerings as aimed at enterprises and governments. Reuters reported that the US government made only three public mentions of xAI or Grok in 2025 out of more than 400 disclosed AI uses. Grok download popularity peaked around a January 2026 update that enabled users to generate sexualized images using real photos, leading to lawsuits and an EU ban on nudifying apps. Grok also retains “Spicy” and “Unhinged” modes tied to heightened risks including reputational harm, explicit content, misinformation, nonconsensual imagery, and IP infringement.

"The firm's survey of 500 people-also highlighted by The Wall Street Journal-showed reported Claude usage among respondents' companies jumping from 21 percent to 48 percent between 2025 and 2026. Similarly, reported Gemini usage rose from 27 percent to 40 percent in the same time period."

"Grok's corporate usage also saw a smaller bump, rising from 4 percent to 7 percent. "We have launched Grok Business, Grok Enterprise, Grok API, and xAI Gov, products that we believe will be attractive to enterprises and governments, and we expect substantial opportunities to acquire new customers," SpaceX wrote in its S-1 filing."

"Reuters reported that "xAI's Grok chatbot has been a flop with one of the world's largest customers-the US government." The Reuters examination of AI inventory records from federal agencies in 2025 showed just three public mentions of using either xAI or Grok out of more than 400 publicly disclosed examples of AI use by the government."

"The peak of Grok's download popularity coincided with a January 2026 update that allowed Grok users to generate millions of sexualized images of women and children by using real photos to virtually undress people-a situation that persisted for weeks before developers addressed the situation. The AI nudifying scandal led to lawsuits against xAI and spurred the European Union to ban nudifying apps."

Read at Ars Technica