X (formerly Twitter) has announced that Grok, its AI-powered chatbot, is now available to all users, including those with free accounts. This expansion follows reports from a month ago that the Elon Musk-owned platform was piloting a free version of Grok in specific regions. Initially introduced last year as a “humorous AI assistant,” Grok was previously limited to Premium subscribers.
With its wider rollout, the chatbot is positioned to challenge other popular AI assistants such as Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude.
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Grok AI: Limitations & Advantages
However, Grok’s free version comes with notable limitations. Users can send up to 10 messages every two hours and are restricted to analysing just three images daily. Interestingly, instead of being powered by the Grok-2 mini model, the free version uses the Grok-2 beta large language model, promising enhanced performance.
Another unique feature is Grok’s deep integration with X. Beyond typical uses like information retrieval, Grok allows users to perform platform-specific tasks such as analyzing posts and accounts, offering a tailored experience within the social media ecosystem. This makes it a standout option compared to its competitors in the crowded AI chatbot market.
Although the AI chatbot is capable of analyzing images, it currently lacks the ability to process documents such as PDFs and Word files. However, Elon Musk has suggested that this functionality is on the horizon, hinting at upcoming updates that will make the chatbot more versatile.
In related developments, xAI, the company behind Grok, recently secured approximately $6 billion in its latest funding round, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. This significant financial backing is expected to accelerate the development of the platform. Additionally, xAI is reportedly planning to release a standalone Grok app, which could further expand its usability beyond the confines of the X platform.
