xAI Releases Grok 4.5: Cheaper and Faster, But a Generation Behind Claude Opus

Elon Musk's xAI has released Grok 4.5, a new coding model positioned as cheaper and faster than flagship models from Anthropic and OpenAI. However, Musk himself acknowledged that Grok 4.5 is at least one generation behind its main rivals, particularly Anthropic's Claude Opus. The release targets developers looking for a more affordable AI coding tool.