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    Home » Sections » AI and machine learning » New Grok coding tool challenges Microsoft and OpenAI dominance

    New Grok coding tool challenges Microsoft and OpenAI dominance

    Elon Musk's artificial intelligence start-up, xAI, has released a new "speedy and economical" agentic coding model.
    By Agency Staff29 August 2025
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    New Grok coding tool challenges Microsoft and OpenAI dominanceElon Musk’s artificial intelligence start-up, xAI, on Thursday released a new “speedy and economical” agentic coding model, marking its entry into a key focus area for AI companies.

    An agentic coding tool is an AI-powered software application that can autonomously perform coding-related tasks.

    xAI’s model, called grok-code-fast-1, will be available for free for a limited time, with select launch partners including GitHub Copilot and Windsurf.

    xAI’s model, called grok-code-fast-1, will be available for free for a limited time

    “Its strength lies in delivering strong performance in an economical, compact form factor, making it a versatile choice for tackling common coding tasks quickly and cost-effectively,” xAI said.

    AI companies such as OpenAI and Microsoft are focusing on making AI coding assistants available to its users.

    Microsoft in May introduced the GitHub Copilot feature, a coding agent, at its annual Build software developer conference. CEO Satya Nadella had in April said that 20-30% of overall code in Microsoft is being written by AI.

    ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s agent, called Codex, was made available to ChatGPT Plus users in June.

    Read: ChatGPT’s mental health costs are adding up

    xAI sued Apple and OpenAI in US federal court in Texas on Monday, accusing them of illegally conspiring to thwart competition for AI.  — Juby Babu, (c) 2025 Reuters

    Get breaking news from TechCentral on WhatsApp. Sign up here.

    Don’t miss:

    Grok’s South Africa blunder raises alarms over chatbot oversight

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