Users of Grok, the app from the artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, have increased more than sixfold in Korea over the past year. Analysts say it is making strong gains in the mobile AI chatbot market on the back of social media platform X.
On the 20th, app analytics service Wiseapp Retail analyzed monthly active users (MAU) of major AI chatbot apps among domestic smartphone users (Android + iOS) and found Grok AI ranked third with 1.53 million. It fell far short of OpenAI, which has emerged as a "national app," at 22.93 million, but it drew attention by outpacing key rivals such as Perplexity (1.52 million), Anthropic Claude (770,000), and Google Gemini (440,000).
When Grok AI first debuted in the domestic market in March last year, it had only 230,000 users, but within half a year, by October of the same year, users surpassed 900,000, and last month it topped 1.5 million. Less than a year after launch, the number of mobile users increased more than sixfold, the fastest growth among major AI chatbot apps.
Industry observers cite integration with X as the reason Grok's mobile users have surged. Grok is an AI chatbot built into X, and most Grok users encounter it through X. Users with an X account can use Grok without a separate sign-up process, resulting in a low barrier to entry. Tapping the Grok icon at the bottom of the X app opens a chat window where users can enter questions or requests.
X's domestic MAU is close to about 7.5 million, which industry officials say naturally funnels users to Grok. Much like Threads, launched by Facebook parent Meta in 2023 as an "X rival," quickly gained users based on integration with Instagram, X has become a platform to promote Grok.
According to xAI, Grok delivers answers that combine public posts on X with web search. Because it can access posts uploaded to X in real time, it can provide responses that reflect topics such as the latest issues, information, and memes (internet viral content), a differentiator that sets it apart.
While ChatGPT or Gemini aim for answer reliability and accuracy by minimizing neutrality issues and hallucinations, Grok reflects the characteristics of an SNS platform that is trend-sensitive, spreads information quickly, and is volatile. As a result, its responses tend to be more direct and often mix in satire and humor. In fact, xAI describes Grok on its blog as "an AI assistant with a rebellious streak and a sense of humor." Musk has touted "freedom of expression" and "minimal censorship" as Grok's strengths.
To expand Grok usage within the X platform, xAI supports summoning Grok by tagging "@grok" in posts or replies. Users can leverage this for content creation, summarization, and analysis, and it is often used for fact-checking to verify whether information in a post is true.
In Korea, X is one of the main platforms for K-pop fandom activity, and major online communities have formed a culture of sharing popular posts from X, which is seen as helping Grok gain users quickly. Grok is strong at analyzing and summarizing real-time reactions based on internal X data, aligning with Koreans' tendency to focus on "how people are reacting right now" to major political, social, cultural, and K-pop fandom issues.
Some caution the rapid user growth trend for Grok may be limited to mobile. Because X has a solid mobile user base, Grok, which is tied to X, has grown around the mobile app, but it may lag Gemini or Claude among desktop users focused on work. An AI industry official said, "Users who apply AI to work such as coding, report summarization, and research often prefer Claude or Gemini over Grok," adding, "Grok appears to stand out in the mobile AI market thanks to its integration with X."