It appears Elon Musk's X Corporation is Offering Complimentary Grok AI Access for Certain Individuals
It seems that the once-Twitter-named platform, now known as X, is offering its AI chatbot, Grok, for free to some users. Up until now, this product was only accessible to Premium subscribers. Reports from TechCrunch suggest that some users have gained free access to Grok over the weekend.
TechCrunch managed to access the free version of Grok by using a New Zealand-registered account. The site's message states, "A free tier of Grok is now available in your region. Chat, generate images, and analyze photos. Limits apply." New Zealand is often a testing ground for new social network products due to its small size and English-speaking population.
X appears to be extending Grok's access to free users. As reported by TechCrunch.
According to a source within X, accounts must be at least seven days old and must be linked to a phone number to qualify for the free tier of Grok. This makes sense as chatbots are resource-intensive, and X is already grappling with a bot issue that floods the platform with AI garbage. To prevent excessive costs or exacerbating the bot problem, free Grok users are limited to asking 10 questions every 2 hours using the Grok 2 model, or 20 questions using the Grok 2 mini model. Additionally, free users can analyze up to 3 images per day.
However, it remains unclear if a free tier of Grok will be available to US users.
Grok is developed by XAI, one of Elon Musk's associated companies. Musk claims that the AI model's goal is to be the most freedom of speech-friendly of all major models. Its training content primarily comes from X, providing the model with near real-time conversational access. This could be viewed as beneficial if one shares Musk's views on citizen journalism serving as the "true" source of truth in the world.
Regardless of X's speed in disseminating information, a lot of that information is falsified or misleading before getting corrected by mainstream outlets or X's Community Notes. These corrections rarely spread as widely as the original misinformation. Grok, like any chatbot, is prone to error due to its nature as a non-factual AI chatbot, but it does let you mock different users' profiles, which can be amusing.
xAI is Musk's primary hope in recovering any returns from his $44 billion Twitter acquisition. Despite Fidelity valuing X at a pathetic $9 billion, down 79% since the purchase, xAI has already raised $6 billion and is currently seeking billions more in additional funding at—yes, you heard that right—a $45 billion valuation. Those who invested in Musk's Twitter acquisition have been granted access to xAI's funding rounds as another opportunity to recuperate their losses. At the very least, X could help promote chatbot adoption.
Musk's aggressive entry into the AI race stems partly from revenge for being ousted from OpenAI. As with his other ventures, xAI has already made headlines for rapidly building what is supposedly the world's largest AI supercomputer in Memphis, causing concern among locals. But hey, Grok can create an image of Mario flying into the Twin Towers. Other chatbots won't let you do that.
The decision to offer Grok for free to some users demonstrates X's confidence in the future of technology and its AI chatbot. With this move, the company aims to boost its user base and make Grok accessible to a wider audience.
As reported by TechCrunch, this new development in the tech sphere could potentially influence other platforms to follow suit, shaping the landscape of AI chatbots in the future.
