:

GROK 4.5 UNDERCUTS RIVALS ON PRICE DESPITE BENCHMARK GAP

AI DESK1 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

StemDeck is a new open-source AI stem separator that runs locally on your machine without cloud dependencies. The free tool splits audio into individual instrument tracks.

JUST NOWAI Desk

A firsthand look at China's AI development reveals both countries pursuing remarkably similar technological paths, despite geopolitical tensions. The competition appears less ideological and more focused on matching capabilities.

JUST NOWAI Desk

Anthropic will permanently increase Claude Code's weekly limits by 25% starting September 14, but users will see a 17% net reduction once a current 50% temporary boost expires.

JUST NOWAI Desk

A developer who scraped artwork for AI training is now collaborating with Cara, a creator platform designed to prevent unauthorized AI data collection, as the service faces ongoing attacks from trolls attempting to breach and publish its data.

2H AGOAI Desk

■ SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY BRIEF

ONE EMAIL, 5 STORIES, 06:00 UTC. UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME.