Shortly after X announced its plans to test a three-tiered subscription service, X owner Elon Musk teased that his new AI chatbot, xAI’s Grok, would be part of the top-tier subscription, X Premium+. Now we’re getting a first look at what Grok may look like when launched inside the X app, courtesy of new screenshots that show the feature in development on X’s website.
The AI chatbot, which is Musk’s answer to ChatGPT, Bard, and others, answers questions in a conversational mode, but is said to have more of a personality. As the xAI team described it, Grok is modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and is designed to respond “with a bit of a wit” and has a “rebellious streak.” It also plans to answer “spicy” questions that are rejected by other AI systems, the company noted. Most importantly, Grok will have access to real-time knowledge via 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 would gain access to Grok in the future. X Premium+ is one of the new subscription offerings introduced at X, alongside the existing X Premium subscription and a more affordable X Basic subscription.
While the $3 per month Basic subscription includes features like the edit button and the ability to post longer articles and videos, it doesn’t offer ad removal and its reply-boosting capabilities are weaker than on X Premium. The standard subscription (the $8 per month X Premium), meanwhile, removes half the ads in the For You and Following feeds in addition to supporting all of Basic’s features and adds the Verification checkmark.
X Premium+ is the highest-priced subscription at $16 per month or $168 per year as it removes all the ads in the For You and Following feeds and introduces a Creator Hub where users can get paid to post and can offer their fans subscriptions.
The addition of Grok into this tier could make the offering more compelling to non-creators, as well, X likely hopes.
Musk had not said when Grok would launch to X subscribers, but a screenshot shows that work is already underway to integrate Grok into the X app. According to app researcher Nima Owji, Grok was added to the X web app’s code just yesterday, and its URL will be twitter.com/i/grok. He also published a screenshot showing how Grok will be integrated into the web app for Premium+ subscribers — the chatbot’s icon appears on the left-side navigation bar underneath Home, Search, Notifications, and Messages. The icon stands out as it’s a solid black square with a white slash, while the other X icons are only outlined in black.
Non-subscribers who click the icon will see a message that reads “Subscribe to Premium+ to get access to Grok,” one screenshot shows. In another, a subscriber with access to Grok will see a basic chatbot interface where you can type into a box to “Ask Grok” a question. There also appears to be a history button at the top right which presumably would allow users to revisit their past queries.
While we already knew that Grok would be made available to Premium+ subscribers in the months ahead, the fact that it’s already being developed in the X web application may indicate that it will launch sooner rather than later, or perhaps will be made available to some testers ahead of a public debut on X.
X does not respond to requests for comment, as Musk laid off its comms team shortly after acquiring the company.
Grok’s further development comes shortly after a weekend of drama surrounding the leading AI company, OpenAI, whose board unexpectedly ousted CEO Sam Altman over concerns about the pace of AI innovation and a breakdown in communications. Altman may join OpenAI partner Microsoft to lead an AI team there instead, but things are still in motion.
