- By Alex David
- Tue, 18 Nov 2025 05:50 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Elon Musk’s xAI has rolled out Grok 4.1 — a major upgrade to the Grok 4 model—and the improvements are already sparking comparisons with the best AI systems from Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Grok 4.1 was unannouncedly introduced via a two-week A/B test, and users preferred it nearly 65% of the time – an indication of its superior quality. With improved emotional intelligence, creative writing capabilities, and reduced hallucination rates compared with its predecessor, this version represents Grok's most refined edition yet. It is now the default model across Grok.com, X, and the mobile apps, and can be used even without logging in.
What’s New in Grok 4.1
Grok 4.1 rolled out quietly — and users picked it
Between November 1 and 14, xAI silently tested Grok 4.1 in the wild. Users unknowingly compared responses from Grok 4 vs 4.1, and the newer version won 64.78 per cent of the time. It is now fully available across all platforms and automatically selected in Auto mode.
ALSO READ: Grok On iPhone? Musk’s Casual Reply Fuels Big AI Assistant Debate
Higher emotional intelligence
This is the biggest leap. In internal testing, Grok 4.1 scored 1585 on EQ-Bench (1586 in Thinking mode), beating:
- Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Claude Opus 4
- GPT-5 (based on xAI’s benchmarks)
The model now better understands tone, context, and subtle emotional cues — leading to more natural, intuitive conversations.
Stronger creative writing
Grok 4.1 scored 1708.6 on the Creative Writing v3 benchmark, outperforming Claude 4.5 Sonnet, which is known for its storytelling strength. You’ll notice improvements in:
- Social content
- Storytelling
- Character writing
- Tone-matched rewrites
- Creative brainstorming
Fewer hallucinations
The update cuts down on factual mistakes and overconfident answers — a long-standing issue with earlier Grok versions.
ALSO READ: Lava Agni 4: Early Home Demos Begin Ahead Of Launch: Here’s Everything You Need To Know
This makes it more reliable for:
- Coding
- Analysis
- Summaries
- Technical explanations
- Research-style tasks
The Bigger Picture
Grok 4.1 isn’t a new generation — that comes with Grok 5 — but it’s a clear, strategic refinement aimed at closing the gap with today’s top-tier models. With better empathy, stronger creativity, and improved accuracy, it positions Grok as a more human, more capable alternative in the AI race.
