In a significant development for users of X, a social media platform that earlier was known as Twitter, Elon Musk has announced to open-source the Grok AI Chatbot. This platform was initially exclusive to premium+ subscribers and now Grok AI will be accessible to all Premium subscribers, marking a significant moment in X’s strategy. This will help to boost user engagement and compete with rival Chatbot technologies.
This latest move of Elon Musk to open-sourcing the Grok large language model could signal a desire to compete directly with other popular Chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude. This move is also signaling a commitment to transparency and collaboration in AI development. This latest step not only democratizes AI technology but also invites developers and researchers to refine and augment Grok’s capabilities.
Benefits of Using Grok AI:
The enclosure of Grok in the Premium subscribers tier starts at $8 per month or $84 per year on the web. This is a strategic move to bolster subscription numbers and provide added value to users. Grok is already known for its outstanding response to inquiries on certain topics that are often restricted by other AI Chatbots including controversial political ideas and conspiracy theories. Grok can leverage real-time data from X giving it a competitive edge and providing different responses that reflect the latest trends and discussions on the platform.
This latest development comes at a critical time for X, amongst reports of declining user engagement and advertising revenue. But by providing the availability of Grok, Musk aims to move the flow of users to competing platforms and revive interest in X’s subscription services. This decision of open-source Grok earlier this month, following a legal dispute with OpenAI, highlights Musk’s vision of a more open and collaborative AI landscape.
Grok AI was introduced last year in November as an AI assistant that will answer questions with wit and also has a rebellious streak. The XAI team said in a tweet that those who lack a sense of humor should not use the Chatbot.
The team’s post read, “ Grok is an AI modeled after Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask. Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of Wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor.”
The XAI team also said that Grok will have real-time knowledge of the world due to X. So, the premium subscribers gain access to this innovative Chatbot. This could also mean that the AI system will derive its knowledge from users’ publicly available X posts. Moreover, the AI system was also said to “answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.”
In December, Chatbot was available to X Premium+ users. Now that all premium subscribers can easily access to the Chatbot. Users can explore Grok’s AI abilities and it will be interesting to see how they interact with it. Thus, shaping the future of AI and X and beyond.