Shortly after X announced its plans to test a subscription service with three tiers, X owner Elon Musk teased that his new AI chatbot, xAI’s Grok, would be part of in the top-tier subscription, X Premium +. Now we’ve got our first look at what Grok will look like when launched inside the X app, courtesy of new screenshots showing off the development side of the X website.
The AI chatbot, which is Musk’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Anthropic’s Claude, and others, answers questions in a conversational way, but is said to have more personality. As the xAI team describes it, Grok is modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and is designed to respond “with a bit of intelligence” and have a “rebellious streak.” It also plans to answer “spicy” questions that other AI systems reject, the company said. Most importantly, Grok has access to real-time knowledge through the X platform and through web browsing capabilities.
Grok was first released on November 4 to a select group of testers, but Musk announced in a post on X that all X Premium+ subscribers will have access to Grok in the future. X Premium + is one of the new subscription offerings introduced by X, alongside the existing X Premium subscription and a more affordable X Basic subscription.
While the $3 per month Basic subscription includes features like an edit button and the ability to post longer articles and videos, it doesn’t offer ad removal and its reply-boosting capabilities are more weaker than X Premium. The standard subscription (the $8 per month X Premium), on the other hand, removes half of the ads in the For You and Following feeds in addition to supporting all Basic features and adding a verification token. .
X Premium+ is the highest priced subscription at $16 per month or $168 per year because it removes all ads from the For You and Following feeds and introduces a Creator Hub where users get paid to post and can offer their subscriptions to fans.
Adding Grok to this level could make the offering more appealing to non-makers, too, X probably hopes.
Musk didn’t say when Grok will launch to X subscribers, but a screenshot shows that work is underway to integrate Grok into the X app. According to the app researcher What Owji, Grok was added to the X web app code just yesterday, and its URL is twitter.com/i/grok. He also published a screenshot showing how Grok will be integrated into the web app for Premium + subscribers – the chatbot icon can be found on the left side of the navigation bar under Home, Search, Notifications, and Messages. The icon stands out because it’s a solid black square with a white slash, while other X icons are just outlined in black.
Non-subscribers who click the icon will see a message that reads “Subscribe to Premium + to get access to Grok,” a screenshot shows. In another, a subscriber with access to Grok will see a basic chatbot interface where you can type in a box to “Ask Grok” a question. There will also appear to be a history button on the top right which will probably allow users to revisit their previous questions.
While we already know that Grok will be available to Premium+ subscribers in the coming months, the fact that it has already been developed in the X web application may indicate that it will be launched sooner rather than later, or perhaps become available. to some testers. first of a public debut of X.
X did not respond to requests for comment, as Musk fired the comms team shortly after acquiring the company. However, X’s help documentation says Grok access is “coming soon” to the Premium+ tier.
Grok’s further development comes shortly after a week of drama surrounding leading AI company OpenAI, whose board unexpectedly fired CEO Sam Altman over concerns about the pace of AI innovation and communications disruption. Altman may join OpenAI partner Microsoft to lead an AI team there, but things are still a work in progress.
