xAI Unveils Image Generation API

Elon Musk’s xAI introduces an API for image generation, offering a new model named ‘grok-2-image-1212’ with competitive pricing.

Elon Musk’s AI brainchild, xAI, just upped its game by rolling out image generation through its API. Right now, there’s just one model in the lineup—’grok-2-image-1212′ (sounds like a sci-fi sequel, doesn’t it?). It can whip up to 10 images from your captions, all neatly packed in JPG format. Each snapshot will set you back $0.07, and to keep things from going haywire, they’ve capped it at 5 requests per second.

Stacked against the competition, xAI’s pricing holds its own. Take Black Forest Labs, xAI’s partner in crime for image generation on platform X, charging about $0.05 per image. Then there’s Ideogram, another big name, where prices can climb up to $0.08 per image on their pricier plans.

But here’s the catch—xAI’s API isn’t exactly a Swiss Army knife. You can’t tweak image quality, size, or style (yet). And before your prompts turn into visuals, they get a once-over by a ‘chat model’ to keep things clean and on topic.

Since its October 2024 debut, xAI’s API has been a key piece of its puzzle to rake in some cash while it doubles down on developing its star models, like Grok 3. With eyes on the prize, xAI is rumored to be courting investors for a whopping $75 billion valuation. Not stopping there, the company’s also been busy snapping up a generative AI video startup and giving its Memphis data center a serious upgrade to fuel its AI ambitions.