Elon Musk, billionaire and xAI proprietor, announced Tuesday the imminent release of his company’s AI chatbot, Grok, to all X premium users by week’s end, according to an article published by TechCrunch. This development arrives amidst escalating tensions in Musk’s rift with former enterprise OpenAI. Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman alleges a deviation from the organization’s initial purpose of AI advancement for societal good.
In a notable move, Musk has directed criticism towards OpenAI and its flagship offering, ChatGPT, labeling the San Francisco-based startup as “closed AI.” This friction intensified following Musk’s decision to open source Grok AI under the Apache 2.0 license, aligning it with platforms like Meta and Mistral.
Grok AI, introduced by Musk in November last year, presents itself as an alternative to prevalent chatbots in the market such as ChatGPT and Gemini (formerly Bard). Inspired by Douglas Adams’ science fiction masterpiece, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” Grok promises to answer queries with a blend of humor and rebelliousness.
Initially accessible solely through an X Premium+ subscription costing ₹1,300 per month or ₹13,600 annually, Grok’s availability is expanding to include users with an X Premium subscription priced at ₹650 per month or ₹6,800 annually.
Later this week, Grok will be enabled for all premium subscribers (not just premium+) https://t.co/4u9lbLwe23
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2024
Will all X users get Grok access in future?
In a tweet, Musk revealed that they have added “unhinged fun mode” to Grok in addition to “normal mode” and “fun mode”.
Grok has normal mode and fun mode. Tonight, we decided to add an unhinged fun mode. It is next-level 🤣🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2024
However, Musk has yet to confirm whether all X users will eventually gain access to Grok AI, akin to the accessibility of ChatGPT version 3.5. Speculations arise that Musk’s decision to extend Grok access to all premium subscribers may be part of a broader strategy to bolster X’s subscriber base amid dwindling usage.
A TechCrunch report suggests a substantial decline in X usage, with data from Sensor Tower indicating an 18% year-on-year decrease in US usage as of February, plummeting 23% since Musk’s assumption of control over the company.
Providing access to an AI chatbot could serve as a crucial measure to retain X users and prevent them from migrating to alternative platforms. Notably, decentralized platforms such as Mastodon and Bluesky, along with Instagram’s Threads, have emerged as viable alternatives. Threads, bolstered by Meta’s extensive resources, has rapidly attracted over 130 million monthly users by the fourth quarter of 2023.
Furthermore, challenges with advertisers have exacerbated X’s situation, with 75 of the top 100 US advertisers ceasing to allocate any advertising budget to the social media platform.
Also Read:
- Elon Musk Sues OpenAI For Violating Founding Agreement Of Developing Artificial General Intelligence For Public Benefit
- Elon Musk’s XAI Launches AI Chatbot Grok That Has Access To Real-Time Info From X
- Elon Musk’s XAI Open Sources Parts Of Its Large Language Model Grok-1
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