GROK 4.5 UNDERCUTS RIVALS ON PRICE DESPITE BENCHMARK GAP

AI DESK■ 1 MIN READ

WED, JUL 8, 2026

■ AI-SUMMARIZED FROM 1 SOURCE ▸ TIMELINE

xAI released Grok 4.5, trained on tens of thousands of Nvidia GB300 GPUs. The model trails competitors in coding benchmarks but costs significantly less at $2 per million input tokens.

Grok 4.5 arrives with lower performance metrics than Fable 5 and GPT-5.5 on coding benchmarks, but xAI's pricing strategy may offset the gap. The model requires 4.2 times fewer tokens than Opus 4.8 to accomplish similar tasks, translating to substantial cost savings for users. At $2 per million input tokens, Grok 4.5 undercuts competitor pricing substantially. The model was trained using tens of thousands of Nvidia GB300 GPUs, positioning it as a competitive option for price-sensitive deployments. The release reflects an industry shift toward cost-efficiency. As AI model capabilities converge across major providers, pricing and efficiency metrics increasingly influence adoption decisions. EU availability is scheduled for mid-July, expanding access beyond existing markets.

■ SOURCES

► The Decoder

■ SUMMARY WRITTEN BY AI FROM THE LINKS ABOVE

■ MORE FROM THE AI DESK

P544Z.AI CONFIRMS OX ALPHA IS GLM-SERIES MODEL

Z.ai has confirmed that Ox Alpha, a previously undisclosed language model, is part of its GLM-series lineup. The company plans to release the model's weights publicly.

5H AGO— AI Desk

P540AI ACCELERATES ASIAN FIRMS' GLOBAL EXPANSION

Artificial intelligence is enabling Asian businesses to expand internationally at record speeds, according to Stripe's managing director for Southeast Asia, Greater China and South Korea.

5H AGO— AI Desk

P537ANTHROPIC SETS HARDWARE STANDARD FOR AI AGENTS

Anthropic has released the Model Hardware Standard, a framework enabling AI agents to control physical systems like microscopes, robot arms, and quantum computing hardware. The initiative aims to standardize how AI interacts with devices while addressing emerging safety risks.

5H AGO— AI Desk

P534GOOGLE'S AI NOTEBOOK NOW INTEGRATES WITH PURCHASED BOOKS

Google has launched 'Expert Intelligence,' a new feature in Gemini Notebook that pulls content from Google Play Books, allowing users to ask questions and generate AI-assisted materials based on book contents.

13H AGO— AI Desk

◄ BACK TO NEWS

GROK 4.5 UNDERCUTS RIVALS ON PRICE DESPITE BENCHMARK GAP

■ MORE FROM THE AI DESK

■ SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY BRIEF