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Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, has announced that all Premium subscribers on the social media platform will gain access to its AI chatbot, Grok ai, starting this week.
X Premium is the company’s mid-tier subscription, priced at $8 per month (on the web) or $84 per year. Previously, Grok was exclusively available to Premium+ subscribers, who pay $16 per month or $168 per year.
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This decision comes after Musk revealed earlier this month that xAI will make its Grok large language model open-source. However, he did not specify when Grok would be accessible to all X users.
In a post on X, Elon Musk stated: “Later this week, Grok will be enabled for all premium subscribers (not just premium+).”
Implications
Offering access to an AI chatbot could help retain X users who might consider switching to other platforms like decentralized platforms Mastodon and Bluesky, or Instagram’s Threads. These platforms have gained popularity, with Instagram’s Threads reaching over 130 million monthly users as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Recent data from Sensor Tower indicates that X usage in the U.S. has declined by 18% year-over-year as of February, and 23% since Musk acquired the platform. This move may aim to attract more users to X.
It could also signify an effort to compete directly with other popular chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude.
Open-Sourcing Grok
By open-sourcing Grok, Musk is challenging OpenAI’s decision to keep its ChatGPT closed-source.
With Grok open-sourced, xAI joins other firms like Meta and French startup Mistral in making their chatbot codes public.
Grok, released by xAI last year, offers features such as access to “real-time” information and is available to customers paying for X’s monthly subscription.
Earlier this month, Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that they had abandoned the startup’s original mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, instead focusing on profit. This lawsuit has sparked a debate about the advantages of open-source AI.
