Elon Musk to introduce ads in Grok AI chatbot to boost revenue
Musk linked the move to the high cost of operating Grok, which runs on expensive GPUs (graphics processing units).
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Elon Musk plans to monetise his artificial intelligence company xAI by introducing advertisements within its chatbot, Grok. Speaking during a livestream with advertisers on X, Musk said ads could appear in Grok’s responses when users seek solutions to specific problems — with the chatbot suggesting relevant products or services.
He argued that this approach would make ads “more useful and relevant” rather than purely promotional. Musk linked the move to the high cost of operating Grok, which runs on expensive GPUs (graphics processing units).
“Our focus so far has been on making Grok the smartest and most accurate AI in the world, and I think we have largely achieved that. Now we have to figure out how to pay for those costly GPUs,” Musk said, without giving a launch date for the ad feature.
Ads within Grok and on X will be subject to quality standards to avoid harming the user experience, he added.
Grok, developed by xAI and integrated into X earlier this year, has been central to Musk’s push to merge AI tools with social media. Musk also announced new AI-powered tools for advertisers on X to simplify campaign creation and management.
The chatbot has recently faced a lot of controversy. Earlier this year, xAI apologised after an update led Grok to post antisemitic jokes and comments praising Adolf Hitler on X, sparking criticism. Musk acknowledged these issues but maintained Grok is “unmatched” in intelligence and accuracy compared to rival AI systems.
