On the platform that X offers, X began offering Grok, the “rebellious” artificial intelligence chatbot that Elon Musk’s xAI company created, to Premium+ members yesterday. Earlier today, Musk said Grok’s distribution to all Premium+ users in the United States is complete. However, he cautioned that the beta version would have numerous problems, even though it would be gradually improved. In addition, he provided a timetable for Grok’s expansion into other countries outside of the United States, stating that all customers who pay Premium+ and speak English will be able to use Grok in “about a week or so.”
The Japanese users, who make up X’s second-largest user base, would subsequently follow to deliver Grok to “hopefully” all languages by “early 2024,” according to the proprietor of X.
The timetables that Musk sets for when things will occur do not always come to pass; ask any Tesla observer who has been following the company for a long time and has spent some time waiting for full self-driving features (FSD). On the other hand, Musk has just been a little late regarding his launch expectations for Grok. For example, on November 22nd, Musk announced that xAI’s Grok will be available to Premium+ users “next week.” This would have meant that the chatbot would be available to Premium+ subscribers from November 3rd to December 5th, but it was released this week, on December 7th.
Whether or not the chatbot successfully generates subscription income for X is still something that has not yet been determined. Grok is currently only available as a component of X’s premium membership service, which costs $16 per month and is known as Premium+. In comparison to the Basic ($3/month) and Premium ($8/month) choices offered by X, this is significantly more expensive, and it is unclear if it will be appealing to casual AI dabblers who can use competing chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google’s Bard for free.
The Premium+ membership grants access to additional features that enhance its appeal. One benefit is not seeing advertisements in the For You and Following timelines on X since they are included in the subscription. In addition to Premium’s benefits, such as a share of ad income for producers, ID verification, a verified checkmark, access to Media Studio, and more, Premium+ users also receive the most significant enhancements to their responses.
The majority of X, formerly known as Twitter’s revenue, has been generated by advertising rather than subscriptions up until now.
Musk has been alienating X’s advertisers, even asking them to “fuck themselves” for quitting X due to fears over antisemitic content on the site. However, it is now unknown what the future may hold for X regarding its ability to generate revenue through advertisements. It may be necessary for X to have more users subscribe to Premium+ for Grok for it to be viable. This would help compensate for the loss of advertising income due to companies like Apple, Disney, IBM, Paramount, Walmart, and others leaving the platform.
According to one estimate from Apptopia, a source of app data, X had its highest-ever monthly subscription income in November, bringing in $6.2 million in net revenue after app store fees. This is a significant achievement for the company. This is still less than a third of what Snapchat made for its in-app subscription, which surpassed $20 million for the first time last month. Nevertheless, this is still a significant amount.
To put it another way, X is said to have more than 500 million monthly active users, which means there is still a significant amount of potential for the company to expand its subscriber base. The question of whether or not it is possible is, of course, another thing.
