X expands access to Grok chatbot for premium subscribers amidst competition

X is now offering its Grok chatbot to Premium subscribers, expanding access to the AI-driven service. Users can engage with Grok in various modes for news and conversation.

X introduces Grok chatbot to Premium subscribers, expanding access to interactive features. (Bloomberg)

Social media platform X is expanding access to xAI's Grok chatbot, now offering it to Premium tier subscribers. Following Elon Musk's recent announcement regarding the broader availability of the service to paid users, the company has outlined that only Premium and Premium+ subscribers will have the privilege of engaging with the chatbot in specific regions.

Previously, Grok was exclusively accessible to Premium+ users, who paid either $16 monthly or a $168 annual subscription fee. However, with the latest update, users subscribed at the $8 per month tier can now utilise the chatbot's features, according to a report by Techcrunch. 

Users Can Engage Grok in Regular or Fun Mode

Grok offers users two distinct modes of interaction: "Regular mode" and "Fun mode." As with any other Large Language Model (LLM) product, users are cautioned that Grok may provide inaccurate responses.

The recent enhancement includes a new explore view within Grok, where the chatbot succinctly summarises trending news stories. Noteworthy competitors like Jeff Bezos and NVIDIA-backed Perplexity AI also offer similar news summarisation features.

Yet, Grok distinguishes itself by not only summarising stories but also crafting headlines. However, this has raised concerns, as observed when the chatbot generated a fictitious headline, "Iran Strikes Tel Aviv with Heavy Missiles," as reported by Mashable.

It's evident that Musk aims to broaden Grok's user base to compete with products like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude. Musk's recent criticisms of OpenAI's operations, culminating in a lawsuit filed in March over alleged "betrayal" of its non-profit mission, underscore the competitive landscape.

Notably, xAI recently made Grok open-source, albeit without divulging details about its training data. This move has prompted questions about the model's transparency and the company's approach to development, as highlighted by my colleague Devin Coldewey.

Amidst the competitive dynamics of AI-driven chatbots, the industry expects additional insights into Grok's development and data transparency as it continues to grow up.