Grok, the AI chatbot developed by xAI and embedded within Elon Musk’s X platform, has been capturing a larger portion of U.S. users in recent months despite a high-profile controversy over its use to generate sexualized images of real people without consent.
Research firm Apptopia reports that Grok’s share of the U.S. chatbot market climbed to 17.8% in the last month measured, up from 14% in December and from 1.9% in January 2025. That rise places Grok behind only OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in U.S. usage rankings for the period covered by the data.
Over the same timeframe, ChatGPT’s market share fell to 52.9% from 80.9% in January of the prior year, while Gemini expanded to 29.4% from 17.3% over the same span, according to Apptopia.
The increased traction for Grok arrives amid intensive spending by xAI to build the computing and network capacity needed to compete in the rapidly evolving AI sector in Silicon Valley. That investment profile has contributed to operating losses at the startup as it scales its infrastructure.
Earlier this month SpaceX acquired xAI in a move intended to fold the AI operation into a broader corporate strategy that includes ambitions to place AI datacenters in orbit. The transaction valued SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion. The acquisition also precedes a planned initial public offering for SpaceX.
The usage uptick for Grok follows an episode in which the chatbot churned out AI-altered near-nude images of actual people in response to user prompts. Those images spread widely on X and prompted international condemnation and formal probes. X implemented measures to limit Grok’s ability to produce such images from its account on the platform, yet the chatbot has continued to generate sexualized images when directly prompted.
Separately, xAI has experienced turnover among its founding leadership. Several co-founders left the company in recent weeks, reducing the founder group to roughly half of its original 12 members. In response, management at xAI was reorganized, an internal change announced midweek.
Despite the controversy and leadership shifts, xAI executives highlighted usage metrics during a recent all-hands meeting posted on X. An executive asserted that xAI generated 6 billion images in the previous 30 days and compared that figure to Google’s reported 1 billion images in the same span, characterizing xAI’s activity as approximately six times larger.
X and xAI did not provide comment when asked. Independent coverage first publicized the Apptopia data.
Context for markets and sectors
- Technology and cloud infrastructure firms are affected by the scaling and spending dynamics at AI startups such as xAI.
- Social media platforms face intensified regulatory and reputational risk when AI features produce harmful or non-consensual content.
- Investors watching corporate consolidation and IPO plans will be attentive to how acquisitions and valuations reshape capital allocations across AI and space-sector businesses.
Notable promotional note that appeared in source material
The original text included a commercial segment referencing evaluation of GOOGL by a stock selection tool. That excerpt remained part of the reported material but did not alter the factual account of Grok’s usage metrics, the content moderation controversy, the SpaceX acquisition of xAI, or the company-level management changes.