Slashdot: xAI Offers Grok To Federal Government For 42 Cents - Slashdot
xAI Offers Grok To Federal Government For 42 Cents11
xAI struck a deal with the U.S. General Services Administration to sell its chatbot Grok to federal agencies under the executive branch for 42 cents over 18 months, undercutting OpenAI and Anthropic's $1 offerings. TechCrunch reports:The steep discount for federal agencies includes access to xAI engineers to help integrate the technology. The price point is either part of a running joke Musk has of using variations of 420, a marijuana reference, or a nod to one of Musk's favorite books, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," which references the number 42 as the answer to the meaning of life and the universe.
... In late August, internal emails obtained by Wired revealed the White House had instructed the GSA to add xAI's Grok to the approved vendor list "ASAP." The company was also one of several AI firms, including Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, to be selected for a $200 million contract with the Pentagon. A GSA spokesperson told TechCrunch that Musk was not directly involved in negotiating the agreement.
No assertion by Crabgrass that any/all details of the story check out, but Slashdot linked to a Wired story.
A quick scan of the Wired item, if 42cents or 420 were mentioned there Crabgrass' scan missed it.
Also, 42 cents/what? Per million tokens, per thousand? It makes a difference.
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