Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, is reportedly preparing to launch a standalone app for its Grok chatbot, marking a significant move to compete with OpenAI's popular ChatGPT. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the app is expected to debut as early as December, signaling xAI's ambition to scale up and challenge OpenAI's dominance in the AI chatbot market.

The development comes as no surprise, given Musk's history with OpenAI. The entrepreneur co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but later distanced himself from the company due to ideological differences. xAI was subsequently established as an alternative, with Grok being its flagship chatbot. Currently, users can access Grok through X, but only if they subscribe to the service.

The standalone app will allow users to access Grok without the need for a subscription, making it a more competitive offering in the market. This move is likely to heat up the competition between xAI and OpenAI, as well as other players like Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude, which already have their own apps and free products.

xAI's plans to launch a standalone app for Grok also underscore the company's efforts to diversify its revenue streams. In addition to its chatbot, xAI is reportedly behind customer support features for Starlink, a subsidiary of Musk's SpaceX. This expansion into new areas could help xAI establish itself as a major player in the AI industry.

The launch of the Grok app will also be closely watched by industry observers, who will be keen to see how it compares to ChatGPT in terms of functionality and user experience. With the AI chatbot market expected to continue growing in the coming years, the competition between xAI and OpenAI is likely to intensify, driving innovation and improvement in the sector.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, one thing is clear: the battle for supremacy in the chatbot market has only just begun. With xAI's Grok app set to join the fray, users can expect a more diverse range of options and a heightened focus on innovation and quality. The question on everyone's mind is: which chatbot will ultimately emerge as the winner?