Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI has added image generation capabilities to its API. Currently, only one model "grok-2-image-1212" is available in the API. After giving the prompt, the model can generate up to 10 images in JPG format per request (limited to 5 requests per second), and each image sells for $0.07.
By comparison, AI startup BlackForestLabs, which xAI partnered with last year to launch an image generation feature on Musk's social network X, charges about $0.05 per image. Ideogram, another popular image model provider, charges even more, at $0.08.
In its documentation, xAI notes that the API does not yet support adjusting the quality, size, or style of images, and that prompts in requests are modified based on the "chat model."
xAI launched its own API in October 2024 and seems to be looking for meaningful revenue streams while strengthening training and developing flagship models such as Grok3. The company is reportedly meeting with investors to discuss a potential $10 billion financing that would give it a valuation of $75 billion.
xAI recently acquired a generative AI video startup and is expanding its Memphis data center for training and running various models.