AI basics
Why it matters
A multimodal model can look at a photo, listen to speech or watch a clip as well as read. That is what lets an assistant describe a picture, answer out loud or read a chart in a screenshot.
Voice products such as Grok Voice and image tools depend on it. When a model is called multimodal, check which senses it has for input and which for output, since reading images and making them are different skills.
Related terms
- Large language model (LLM)
- An AI model trained on huge amounts of text to predict the next word, which lets it answer questions, write and code. Grok is a family of LLMs.
- Token
- A chunk of text, often part of a word, that models read and write. API prices are quoted per million tokens.
- AI agent
- An AI that takes actions toward a goal, such as clicking, filling in forms or running code, instead of only replying. Grok Bot is an agent.