Elon Musk's Grok 4.5 Model Gains Adoption as AI Cost Competition Intensifies

Elon Musk instructed Tesla engineers to switch to xAI’s Grok 4.5, citing its lower token costs after the company imposed a $200 weekly cap on external AI‑tool spending. Grok 4.5, launched on July 8 2026, is marketed as an “Opus‑class” model that uses roughly half the tokens of rival systems and is priced at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens.

At the same time, OpenAI unveiled GPT‑5.6, touting higher token efficiency, while Meta announced Muse Spark 1.1 with “very attractive” pricing. The three firms are shifting competition toward models that deliver more work per token, as enterprises curb AI expenditures.

Consumer complaints filed with the FTC reveal users finding Grok’s moderation restrictive and costly to cancel, with reports of throttling and perceived censorship. Separately, a proposed class‑action lawsuit alleges that Grok was used to generate thousands of illegal sexual images of a minor, claiming the model’s safety systems failed to flag the content promptly.

Together, these developments highlight a market swing toward cheaper, more efficient AI tools, alongside growing scrutiny of their misuse and moderation practices.