X Experiments With Free Access to Its Grok AI Chatbot

It looks like X is set to make a bigger push on its Grok AI chatbot, with a version of Grok that would be available to non-paying users of the platform now in development.

As you can see in this example, posted by Lohan Simpson, X is looking to launch a limited, “freemium” version of Grok to all users, which would significantly expand the usage of its generative AI tool.

Because right now, very few people can access it. Grok is currently only available to X Premium subscribers, and with only around 1.3 million people paying to use the app, equivalent to 0.26% of X’s user base, that means that Grok usage is extremely limited. As such, there’s also not a heap of insight, as yet, into how valuable an addition it actually is, or isn’t, within the broader X experience.

A free version, albeit with limited usage for non-paying users, would at least enable more people to try it out, and could lure more X Premium sign-ups. I mean, that also depends on how many people want to generate images to go with their posts, or indeed, generate their X replies entirely. But the only way to know if a lot of people will find value in it is to give them access, and then X can make a more accurate assessment of its potential in this respect.

And that could also help X Corp, the parent company of X, gain critical investment into its xAI offshoot.

xAI, which Elon Musk founded in order to essentially get back at OpenAI, the company that he helped to fund in its initial stages, before being ousted from its leadership team, is Musk’s “non woke” generative AI project, which he hopes to make into a more significant element of his business empire, and a key challenger to his now rivals. xAI has already raised $6 billion in funding, and there is some view that this could also help to prop up the X app itself, with xAI potentially signing a deal on data supply with X, that would funnel some of that cash between the two entities.

As such, the success of xAI is potentially intertwined with X itself, which is still struggling to get its business back on track. So getting more people to use Grok makes even more sense, while xAI has also built a huge AI supercomputer cluster, called “Colossus”, to fuel this effort.

All of this requires ongoing financial support, and for the xAI project, and X itself, to remain viable, both need to demonstrate their direct value to their potential partners. Which again points to maximizing Grok use as an important step, so it’s no real surprise to see X considering a free access tier to boost usage.

Though it will be interesting to see if Musk faces any conflicts in such due to his coming role within the Trump administration. xAI, for example, has received significant support from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a partnership that’s already been questioned on national security grounds. If Musk is in charge of reviewing government departments related to AI, foreign investment, data security, etc., that would be a significant conflict, and Musk may have to recuse himself from such, or stand down from his businesses.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Trump administration handles this aspect, and how that then relates to the development and funding of Musk’s projects moving forward.

Either way, broader access to Grok makes a lot of sense, and it looks like X is moving ahead with this project.