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Elon Musk says he is planning to introduce ads on xAI’s chatbot Grok.
The billionaire entrepreneur said that ads could display when users ask the chatbot about a problem, promoting products and services that offer a “specific solution” to that problem.
“There will be that opportunity in Grok’s suggestions,” Musk said during a Wednesday livestream on X.
He also said that ads could help pay for the chips, known as graphics processing units, that power Grok.
“Our focus thus far has just been on making Grok the smartest, most accurate AI in the world, and I think we’ve largely succeeded in that. So we’ll turn our attention to ‘how do we pay for all those expensive GPUs?’,” Musk said.
Musk did not provide a timeline for introducing ads into Grok’s suggestions.
The billionaire entrepreneur’s comments came during an “ask me anything” discussion with advertisers, in which Musk outlined new AI tools for automating ad tasks on X to help match consumers with relevant products.
Musk said Grok was “good enough” for advertisers to “be able to upload an ad and do nothing else.”
In March, xAI acquired X, which both belong to Musk, for $33 billion, and the companies have since become increasingly intertwined.
Musk also said that ads on X would have to meet some minimum aesthetic requirements.
“We’re not saying that an ad has to be a complete work of art, but it can’t be an eyesore,” said Musk.
The overture to advertisers came a month after Linda Yaccarino stepped down as the CEO of X. Yaccarino’s appointment in 2023 was heralded as a smart move by the advertising industry, but she soon found herself fighting to keep advertisers from leaving the platform after a string of content moderation controversies on X.
Grok, too, has faced controversy in recent months, with xAI apologizing after a new set of directives caused the chatbot to make inflammatory comments on X that included antisemitic jokes and praising Adolf Hitler.
xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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