X is finally testing free access to its AI chatbot Grok, kicking off with users in New Zealand. Previously locked behind a Premium paywall, the free tier caps Grok-2 at 10 queries every two hours and requires a phone-verified account. Opening up to non-paying users should give xAI a much broader feedback loop to take on ChatGPT.
Google just rolled out generative AI capabilities for Google Maps Platform and Google Earth, allowing developers to ground LLMs in real-world data from 250 million places. Google Earth is also getting Gemini-powered multi-step reasoning to slash urban planning analysis time from days to minutes. Next month, Rivian will begin rolling out AI place summaries to its vehicle screens.
xAI just rolled out image understanding to Grok, allowing paid subscribers on X to upload pictures and ask questions about them. Elon Musk noted that the model can even explain jokes and memes, though the feature is still in its early stages. It's the latest step to turn Grok multimodal and give users more reasons to pay for X.
Elon Musk just hosted an xAI recruiting event at OpenAI's original San Francisco headquarters on the same day as OpenAI's developer conference. Standing on a table, Musk pitched engineers on achieving AGI within a couple of years and promised to open-source xAI's models roughly nine months after release. Why it matters: Musk is aggressively targeting rival talent to challenge OpenAI head-on.
A federal judge just temporarily blocked California from enforcing its new AI deepfake law, AB 2839, which targeted users distributing deceptive political content. The ruling followed a lawsuit over an AI parody of Kamala Harris that Elon Musk reposted, with the court deciding the statute is too broad and threatens political satire. Why it matters: The injunction stops the state's crackdown on election deepfakes just weeks before voters cast their ballots.
Donald Trump just shared a series of AI-generated images on social media, including a fake endorsement from pop star Taylor Swift alongside the caption "I accept". Legal experts note that current election deepfake laws struggle to police such exaggerated posts, though Swift herself could potentially pursue a right-of-publicity claim.
xAI just rolled out AI image generation to Grok for X Premium subscribers, and it is instantly causing chaos across the platform. Unlike OpenAI or Google, Grok freely generates recognizable politicians doing drugs, wearing Nazi uniforms, or holding weapons, refusing almost nothing except outright full nudity. Why it matters: With U.S. elections looming and EU regulators already investigating X, Musk's hands-off approach turns mainstream AI safety norms completely upside down.
Elon Musk just shared an AI-manipulated parody of a Kamala Harris campaign ad on X without context, calling it "amazing." By omitting the original creator's parody disclaimer, the repost appears to breach X's own rules against deceptive synthetic media, drawing fierce pushback from lawmakers.
Elon Musk’s X quietly turned on a default setting allowing user posts and interactions to train xAI’s Grok chatbot, sparking immediate pushback from UK and Irish regulators. The pre-ticked consent setting breaches GDPR rules against default opt-ins. Users currently have to dig into the web version's settings just to turn it off.
X just rolled out a Grok-powered "More About This Account" button for paid web users, letting you hover over any profile to generate a quick AI summary. The problem? Early tests show Grok frequently confuses users with celebrities or invents hobbies out of thin air. Why it matters: Even with direct access to platform data, turning social posts into reliable user context is proving harder than expected.
Elon Musk just fired up xAI's Memphis Supercluster, packing 100,000 liquid-cooled Nvidia H100 GPUs tied together on a single RDMA fabric. Musk boasts it is the world's most powerful AI training cluster and aims to deliver the strongest AI on every metric by December, though local utility contracts for its massive 100-megawatt power appetite are still not finalized.
X just rolled out Stories, an AI feature powered by Grok that serves up short summaries of trending topics in the Explore tab. Instead of reading the original news articles, Grok builds its overviews entirely from the posts and conversations happening across the platform. The feature is currently exclusive to paying X Premium subscribers.
Alphabet’s X lab just teamed up with the U.S. National Guard to speed up emergency response with AI. Built by its Bellwether team, the system analyzes aerial photos of disaster zones in seconds to pinpoint damaged critical infrastructure, replacing a slow manual triage process ahead of this June's wildfire season.
Elon Musk just announced that xAI's Grok chatbot will roll out to all X Premium subscribers later this week, halving the barrier to entry from the $16 per month Premium+ tier down to $8. Facing shrinking active users and advertiser flight, X is leveraging its spicy, real-time AI to supercharge paid subscriptions.
Elon Musk's X is reportedly exploring a partnership with text-to-image generator Midjourney. If finalized, the deal could integrate Midjourney's visual capabilities directly into Grok, letting users generate and post images right from their feeds. While details remain sparse, the feature will likely be locked behind an X Premium subscription.
X is testing a new Explore page feature that uses Grok to generate brief summaries explaining why topics are trending. Instead of clicking through vague keywords and hashtags, users get an immediate rundown of the day's key stories. The feature is currently in limited testing and may not roll out globally.
Elon Musk just officially launched xAI's chatbot Grok, rolling it out exclusively to Premium+ subscribers on X. Powered by Grok-1, the bot is designed with a rebellious streak and a sarcasm-heavy 'fun' mode. It's Musk's latest push to convert casual social users into paying subscribers for his everything-app vision.
Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, just filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an equity offering, having already locked in $134.6 million from four investors. The company recently rolled out its cheeky chatbot Grok, and the massive cash infusion aims to secure the compute power needed to take on OpenAI.
Elon Musk just confirmed that xAI's chatbot Grok will roll out to all X Premium+ subscribers sometime next week. Alongside its rebellious persona, Grok's biggest hook is real-time access to X's platform data. Why it matters: Musk is betting on AI to juice subscription sign-ups, though locking Grok behind a $16-a-month paywall could test user appetite.
Researchers from South Dakota State University just unveiled ALERTA-Net, a deep neural network designed to forecast stock price movements and market volatility. By combining macroeconomic data, search queries, and social posts across 41 blue-chip stocks, the model outperformed standard baselines like DP-LSTM. Why it matters: Multi-source inputs could finally help financial models capture sudden market sentiment shifts instead of relying solely on past charts.
