Elon Musk's X: Flawed Grok AI chatbot to become more deeply integrated
X, formerly known as Twitter, is looking to integrate its flawed AI chatbot even more deeply into the platform.
App researcher Nima Owji has recently uncovered code written within the X website that shows the company's upcoming plans for its AI chatbot Grok. While the features haven't publicly launched yet, Owji's discovery gives users a sneak peek into how much Elon Musk is looking to depend on AI for his social media platform.
It's important to note that these upcoming Grok-related features will likely be paywalled, similar to how Grok AI is currently structured. While users originally needed to pay for the $16 per month Premium+ plan, X has since rolled Grok out to those paying for the $8 X Premium plan.
X's upcoming Grok features
According to Owji's findings, X is planning to launch at least three new features across the platform that are powered by Grok.
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X will reportedly allow X Premium and Premium+ subscribers to highlight text on the platform — and then ask Grok about the selection via a pop-up without needing to head off the page. Owji found code in X which deploys an "Ask Grok" prompt pop-up message when text is highlighted.
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Another upcoming X feature that lets users access Grok without moving off-page is the "More about this account" prompt. Based on Owji's research, it appears X will soon let paying users ask Grok for background information about a specific X account via a Grok button that appears on an X user's profile card.
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There is a clear pattern here where X is trying to promote Grok use throughout the entire social media platform – and this final recently discovered upcoming feature makes that fully possible. X is looking to allow its subscribers to access Grok anywhere on X via a "Grok drawer." This basically enables an AI chatbot window to float over the X platform and remain accessible — no matter where the user goes on the site.
Grok is the first product from Musk's AI company xAI, which recently raised billions of dollars. Musk has been looking to prioritize his entrance into the AI race and Grok's deep integration into X at the AI chatbot's launch gave it a built-in user base.
Grok's stumbles
However, Grok has had its struggles.
In April, X relaunched its Explore tab and made the feature dependent on Grok, which now creates news headlines and summaries based on what's trending on the platform. As Mashable previously reported, Musk's AI chatbot has already spread dangerous misinformation such as creating a fake news story about Iran striking Tel Aviv, Israel with missiles. In another example of Grok's failings, the AI chatbot took jokes posted by users on X and created a fake story about the NYPD being sent into NYC subways to have a "showdown" with an earthquake.
That same month, Fortune reported that Musk was actually looking to further integrate Grok throughout X, going as far as wanting the AI chatbot to create posts for users. So, while these three upcoming Grok features aren't quite that, it's clear that X is going forward with pushing Grok onto users all throughout the platform.