Microsoft on Monday became one of the first hyperscalers to provide managed access to Grok, the AI model developed by billionaire Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI.
Available through Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry platform, Grok — specifically Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini — will “have all the service-level agreements Azure customers expect from any Microsoft product,” says Microsoft. They’ll also be billed directly by Microsoft, as is the case with the other models hosted in Azure AI Foundry.
When Musk announced Grok several years ago, he pitched the AI model as edgy, unfiltered, and anti-“woke” — in general, willing to answer controversial questions other AI systems simply won’t. He delivered on some of that promise. Told to be vulgar, for example, Grok will happily oblige, spewing colorful language you likely wouldn’t hear from ChatGPT.
According to SpeechMach, a benchmark comparing how different models treat sensitive subjects, Grok 3 is among the more permissive models.
Grok, which powers a number of features on X, Musk’s social network, has been the subject of much controversy lately. A recent report found that Grok would undress photos of women when asked. In February, Grok briefly censored unflattering mentions of Donald Trump and Musk. And just last week, an “unauthorized modification” caused Grok to repeatedly refer to white genocide in South Africa when invoked in certain contexts.
The Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models in Azure AI Foundry are decidedly more locked down than the Grok models on X. They also come with additional data integration, customization, and governance capabilities not necessarily offered by xAI through its API.
Kyle Wiggers is TechCrunch’s AI Editor. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Manhattan with his partner, a music therapist.
