Elon Musk’s company, formerly known as Twitter and now referred to as X, has announced plans to expand access to its Grok chatbot to more paying subscribers. Previously only available to Premium+ subscribers, Grok will now be accessible to all Premium subscribers starting this week.
This decision comes amidst a backdrop of declining usage and retention rates for X. Recent data from Sensor Tower indicates that X’s usage in the U.S. has dropped by 18% year-over-year as of February, and 23% since Musk acquired the company. Additionally, Musk’s stance against advertisers has potentially impacted revenue, with 75 of the top 100 U.S. advertisers on X in October 2022 no longer spending ad budget on the platform.
The Chatbots Market
By offering Grok to more subscribers, X may be aiming to not only compete with other popular chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude but also to retain its user base and prevent them from migrating to other platforms. This move could be crucial as platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, and Instagram’s Threads have gained traction, with the latter reaching over 130 million monthly users as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Grok’s appeal lies in its ability to respond to questions on sensitive topics and access real-time X data, features that are not available in other chatbots. This could make it particularly attractive to Musk’s followers and heavy X users. However, the effectiveness of this strategy remains to be seen, especially in light of X’s declining user base and revenue challenges.
