If you're still using X, you may have noticed some AI capabilities creeping into the platform recently, powered by Grok, Elon Musk's x.AI chatbot.
Last week, Mr. roll out “Real-time news customized for you, created by Grok AI.” In the pre-Musk era of Twitter, it was called a “curation team” that identified trending topics and curated the platform's Explore page. There was an organization. Trending topics were what users were talking about the most, such as their latest iPhone, Pi Day, or more pressing themes like mass shootings and protests. Musk fired his entire curation team shortly after acquiring the company, and now, months later, that team has been replaced by AI. It works as expected.
After an earthquake struck New York City last week, X's Grok-powered Trends tab drew jokes from users about Mayor Eric Adams sending 1,000 police officers to the Earth's core. pushed it out as real news. To make matters worse, last week the AI Trends tab featured the headline “Iran attacks Tel Aviv with large missile,” which was completely fabricated.
Despite the pitfalls, the Grokization of X shows no signs of slowing down. An X source told me that Musk directed engineers to add Grok to the tweet boxes of users who pay for the platform's subscription feature, X Premium. That means users may soon be able to tweet with the help of AI (I imagine this similar to what Linda Yaccarino, her CEO at X, has already posted) . Musk wants “people to think of him as smarter,” the people said, and he thinks Grok can help him do that. For example, after receiving questions about space or popular memes, AI might help create posts about those topics.
But making these posts “smarter” is a challenge. After all, Grok is trained on his extensive archive of X user submissions over the years, many of which are not necessarily erudite.
What Musk wants AI to do about posting X is also not entirely new. When typing an email in Outlook or Gmail, users are often asked for the option to autocomplete sentences. LinkedIn also offers the option to write using AI. I think the difference between sending an email and posting to X is that the latter tends to involve more creativity, or manufactured personality, or perhaps personal authenticity. Current AI lacks all of the above.
There's also a significant problem with spam, and engineers are unsure how to deal with it, but Musk doesn't seem concerned, the people said. There is so much spam on X that when Musk posted that x.AI would open source his Grok, whoever is running his It seemed like they were making fun of the spam problem. Copy the style of popular porn bot messages Anything that contaminates the platform.
Musk asked engineers to add Grok to the post configuration tool several months ago, but sources say the team has stalled. Additionally, sources say that the x.AI API is slow, making it difficult for the No one thinks it's a great idea. larger volume.
As someone who has been covering X since it was still known as Twitter, integrating Grok into X is easier for Musk than, say, creating an entire payment tool that has been in development for a long time. I think it's a quick victory. I'd be interested to see how the user would make his Grok act as a ghostwriter if the Engineer was unable to circumvent his AI directives.
kylie robison
Would you like to submit your comments and suggestions to the datasheet? Please enter a line here.
The rest of today's datasheet was written by David Meyer.
newsworthy
Microsoft hacking alert. US cybersecurity officials have warned that Russian state-backed hackers are infiltrating Microsoft customer systems with the aim of stealing email communications between US government agencies and the software giant. As Reuters reports, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency yesterday issued an emergency directive regarding the activities of hacker group Midnight Blizzard, saying it “poses a significant and unacceptable risk to government agencies.”
Ark's OpenAI stock. Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management revealed yesterday that it had bought shares in OpenAI the previous day. Bloomberg reports that the size of the stock remains unclear, quoting Brett Winton, Ark's “chief futurist,” saying, “The projected market capitalization of foundation model companies by 2030 is $16 trillion. “It will be,” he was reported to have said.
Alexa app incentives have been removed. Amazon doesn't seem to be keen anymore, as it is eliminating incentives for third-party developers to create apps for its Alexa platform (free AWS credits and a developer rewards program). As Ars Technica reports, take-up of these incentive programs was low, but dozens of developers remain disappointed. These apps are known as Alexa Skills, and while Amazon hasn't started using them yet, Alexa's generative AI chatbot is coming soon.
About our feed
“When we started this work, we were curious. Now that we have a better understanding and have been closely watching developments, we have great concern.”
—sarah cardelThe CEO of the UK's Competition and Markets Authority said the antitrust watchdog said six tech companies – Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Apple and Nvidia – are playing cards in the AI field through an “interconnected web”. He said he was concerned about the fact that most of the ” investments and partnerships. The CMA began investigating this area in May last year.
In case you missed it
Andy Jassy said Amazon has “great relationships” with sellers.Long-seller says it's the 'worst ever' – written by Jason Del Rey
Amazon adds AI tycoon Andrew Ng to board of directors, says Jassy in what could be the biggest technological breakthrough 'probably since the internet' (via Associated Press)
Meta and Google unveil new in-house AI chips, creating 'trillion dollar question' for Nvidia — By Dylan Sloan
World's largest memory chip maker announces $44 billion project in Texas, another win for U.S. semiconductor production – via Bloomberg
Video games are turning into streaming TV, incorporating advertising into America's favorite entertainment format — by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
“I discovered DALL-E and was blown away”: How artists use AI to create very offline art — by Sage Lazarus
before departure
Taylor Swift appears on TikTok. The ongoing drama between TikTok and Universal Music Group has an interesting twist. Universal Music Group pulled its massive music catalog from its platform over issues surrounding money and AI. According to TechCrunch, the music of UMG's biggest artist Taylor Swift has resurfaced on her TikTok, but only for her latest songs and “Taylor's Version” re-recordings of older albums. This may have something to do with the fact that Swift is releasing a new album next week.
This is the web version of Data Sheet, a daily newsletter about the business of technology. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox for free.