Just a day after OpenAI announced the shutdown of its Sora video generation model, Elon Musk took to X to tease a major upgrade to xAI's rival tool, Grok Imagine, a move widely seen as a strategic play to capture the void left by OpenAI's exit.
"Big release next week," Musk posted on X, while also sharing a series of AI-generated video clips made with the Grok chatbot.
OpenAI's exit opens more doors for Grok
OpenAI announced it is shutting down Sora, its AI short-form video platform, just six months after launch. In a post on X, the company thanked users and said timelines for winding down the app and API will be shared soon. Reports suggest rising costs, strategic shifts and IPO ambitions drove the sudden decision.
OpenAI's pivot away from video generation tools towards enterprise offerings has created space for competitors such as xAI to expand their presence in the segment. The shift is also expected to cost OpenAI dearly, reports indicate the company risks losing a $1 billion investment deal from The Walt Disney Company following Sora's discontinuation.
Where Grok Imagine stands today
Grok Imagine already offers a competitive suite of features, including the ability to generate 10-second videos and images at 720p and 1080p resolutions, native synchronised audio with lip-sync and ambient sound effects, and sketch-to-video capabilities. The tool has also recently surpassed rival systems, including Sora and Google's Veo 3.1, on the AI benchmarking platform DesignArena.
What is coming with the next update?
The upcoming update is expected to further improve instruction-following and ship image quality upgrades, potentially taking Grok Imagine videos to the next level. Musk has also been actively resharing user-generated clips on X to build hype around the product ahead of the launch.
