xAI's V9 foundation model completes training, Grok 4.5 next
The ground-up architecture redesign finished training in late May and will underpin Grok 4.5, with xAI planning monthly V9-based model releases through 2026.
MVMara Vidović
Published 7 Jul 2026, 01:34Updated 25 Jul 2026, 14:461 min read
The V9 foundation model underlying the upcoming Grok 4.5 completed training on May 26, according to xAI — a ground-up redesign distinct from the v8-small architecture currently powering Grok on X.
What's planned next
- ▸V9 is a full architectural redesign, not an incremental update to v8
- ▸xAI plans to release V9-based model variants on a monthly cadence through the rest of 2026
- ▸Leadership has confirmed plans for entirely new models trained from scratch on that same monthly schedule
A faster release cadence than most labs
A monthly release cadence for from-scratch models is aggressive even by current frontier-lab standards, and signals xAI is prioritizing iteration speed over the longer, less frequent release cycles more common elsewhere in the industry.
Source: xAI
