SpaceXAI launches Grok 4.5 as a cheaper frontier-model alternative

SpaceXAI released Grok 4.5, describing it as a cheaper and more efficient alternative to other high-end AI models. Elon Musk framed the release as an "Opus-class" model in comments reported by TechCrunch.

Pricing and efficiency are becoming central to model competition as companies shift from experimentation to production workloads. A lower-cost model can matter even when benchmark gaps remain, especially for high-volume agent and chatbot use.

The launch adds another entrant to the frontier model market, where providers are increasingly competing on cost-per-task as much as raw capability.