Grok, the “rebellious” AI chatbot created by Elon Musk’s xAI business, was made available to Premium+ users of X’s platform yesterday. Musk said today that Grok is now available to all Premium+ customers in the United States. However, he issued a warning, stating that although there will be numerous problems with the beta, it will be gradually improved. In addition, he provided an estimated timeline for Grok’s international expansion, stating that Grok would be available to all English-speaking Premium+ customers in “about a week or so.”
Following would be Japanese people, who make up X’s second-largest user base. The proprietor of X said that Grok will “hopefully” be available in all languages by “early 2024.”
Naturally, Musk’s projections of when things would happen don’t always materialize; ask any seasoned Tesla enthusiast who has had to wait for fully autonomous driving (FSD). Musk has only lagged slightly behind his launch projections with Grok, however. For example, Musk said on November 22 that xAI’s Grok will go live for Premium+ users “next week,” but on December 7, the chatbot actually made its debut.
It is still unknown whether the chatbot will be successful in increasing X’s subscription income. Grok is now only available as part of X’s most expensive membership plan, the $16/month Premium+. This is much more expensive than X’s Basic ($3/mo) and Premium ($8/mo) offerings, and it’s unclear whether it will be appealing to casual AI experimenters who can use free competing chatbots like ChatGPT or Google’s Bard.
To further its attractiveness, the Premium+ membership offers additional benefits, such as the ability to remove ads from the For You and Following timelines on X. In addition to all of Premium’s benefits, such as access to Media Studio, ID verification, a verified checkmark, and ad income sharing for artists, Premium+ users also get the greatest boosts to their answers.
However, advertising has generated the bulk of X, previously Twitter’s income so far, rather than subscriptions.
However, Musk has been alienating X’s sponsors, even asking them to “fuck yourself” for quitting the site due to worries over antisemitic material. As a result, it’s uncertain what X’s future with ad funding may hold. In order for X to remain viable, more users may need to sign up for Grok’s Premium+ service in order to offset the loss of advertising revenue caused by the departure of companies like Apple, Disney, IBM, Paramount, Walmart, and others from the platform.
Notably, according to one estimate by app analytics firm Apptopia, X generated $6.2 million in net income in November—a record-breaking amount of money—after app store fees. That’s still less than a third of what Snapchat earned for its own in-app subscription, which last month became the first to reach the $20 million mark.
Put another way, with an estimated 500 million monthly active users, X still has a lot of opportunity to increase its subscriber base. That’s a different story, of course, whether it can or not.
