X has announced that X Premium subscribers in the U.K. can now access its Grok AI chatbot, making it the first country in the European region to gain access to X’s AI interface.
Welcome to the UK @grok! We’re so glad you’re here to share your wit, knowledge, and a some advice with our friends across the pond ????????????
Grok is now available in the UK for premium subscribers pic.twitter.com/Woif4XdBCA
— UK (@XUK) May 4, 2024
X’s Grok bot, which is now available in all countries where X Premium can be accessed, except for E.U. and E.E.A. member nations, enables users to pose conversational queries to the system, and get answers direct in-stream.
Grok is essentially X’s answer to ChatGPT, and follows the trend of social apps adding chatbots into their UI, as a means to hook into the broader AI wave. X owner Elon Musk was an early investor in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, but cut any association with the project after he pushed to become CEO of the organization, and was rebuffed.
In response, Musk has now created his own AI tool, which he hopes will be a significant player in the market, most notably because it has access to X’s post database, which should ensure that it can provide more up-to-the-minute accuracy.
Following Brexit, the U.K. is no longer an E.U. member state, so it’s not part of Europe in a jurisdictional sense, which is why U.K. citizens are getting access to the chatbot, ahead of their E.U. counterparts. X is still in negotiations with E.U. regulators to let it launch the chatbot in the region.
But Britons can now access X’s sassy chatbot, which Elon Musk proudly proclaims is “not woke”, while it’s also been built to answer questions “with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak”.
And considering the Grok bot has been modeled after “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, which was written by English author Douglas Adams, its responses may well resonate better with British users.
Will that be enough to spark more sign-ups for X Premium?
Thus far, interest in X’s subscription offering has been limited, with fewer than 1% of X users signing up, but it’s hoping that Grok will provide more of a lure to boost its paying audience.
Maybe, as the bot improves, it will become a more significant element, and a more significant drawcard for paying X users.