Elon Musk's AI chatbot is having a moment. Grok saw downloads jump 43% month-over-month in January, according to Similarweb data shared on X, and Musk couldn't resist celebrating the milestone publicly.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Musk posted on X Monday, writing "Grok downloads surge 43% month over month!" in response to X Freeze, an account that tracks AI and tech metrics. The actual figures are pretty impressive: monthly active users climbed from 48 million in December to 62 million in January, a 29.1% increase. Store downloads across Android and iPhone platforms went from 11 million to 16 million, representing 43.9% growth.

"Grok is absolutely EXPLODING right now," X Freeze wrote. "That's four consecutive months of explosive growth. And Grok 4.20 isn't even released yet."

Bigger Picture Context

The user surge comes as xAI expands aggressively. The company recently merged with SpaceX in early February, creating a combined entity valued at roughly $1.25 trillion. The triangular merger structure keeps xAI as a wholly owned subsidiary while SpaceX prepares for a potential IPO later in 2026.

Grok also flexed some technical muscle in January, topping the Alpha Arena Season 1.5 live stock trading competition and beating out models from OpenAI and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL).

Not everything is smooth sailing, though. xAI faces regulatory scrutiny, including a criminal investigation in France related to alleged illegal content generation.