Elon Musk is exploring new ways to integrate xAI’s Grok into the social networking app. According to a series of recent findings, X is developing new features like the ability to ask Grok for information about X accounts, use Grok by highlighting text in the app, and access Grok’s chatbot via a pop-up on the side of the screen while continuing to use other parts of X.
The findings were recently shared by independent app researcher Nima Owji. He often tweets his own ideas about features he’d like to see on X. In this case, however, Owji says he discovered the additions on X’s website on Friday, July 5, but confirmed to TechCrunch that they haven’t rolled out to the public yet, as far as he knows.
In one example, Owji discovered that Grok could be used via a pop-up window on the right side of the screen while you’re browsing X, similar to how you can check your DMs (direct messages) from the app’s home screen via a smaller window overlaid on top of the screen.
This format is similar to what other companies like Google and Microsoft use in their productivity apps, where access to their AI chatbots is often available in a sidebar on the right side of the screen, putting the AI chatbot at their fingertips. This placement could allow X users to chat with Grok more often, especially when they’re posting to the app or scrolling through the timeline and come across new information they want to learn more about.
Further developments show how Grok could become a more deeply integrated part of the X experience.
In one case, Owji found it was being used to search for X user profiles, and in another, it was being used to search for terms you find in posts about X.
For example, one new development would let users click a button to learn more about an account on X, though it’s unclear what information will be included or excluded in the account summary provided. (You could probably ask Grok today about an account on X to get a sense of how this upcoming feature might work.)
Perhaps more interesting is the built-in ability to search Grok simply by highlighting a word found in an X message.
In this case, you can hover over one or more terms and then click the “Ask Grok” button that appears below the word to start a search with the chatbot. This will make it easier to ask Grok for information and news you’ve seen on X, or any other topic you want to research further.
Last year, X added Elon Musk’s Grok to the app, formerly known as Twitter, initially to boost paid subscriptions to the Premium Plus plan. Faced with growing competition from OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and others, X in March expanded access to Grok to include mid-tier Premium subscribers as well.
Despite this expanded availability, app intelligence firm Appfigures found that X’s in-app purchase revenue was still declining as of May 2024.
According to its data, X reported net revenue of $7.6 million in May, down from $8 million in April and $8.2 million in March. Appfigures speculated that the decline could be due to the way creators on X are incentivized to post for revenue, leading many to post frequently but sparingly in order to increase their views. The company also noted that the price of the Premium subscription could be off-putting to some users. X also has more competition than ever, with apps like Instagram’s Threads, Mastodon, and startups like Bluesky and, more recently, noplace, all creating their own text-focused social apps.
X may still be recovering from its name change, however, as users continue to seek out an app known as “Twitter.” In May, X had 3 million downloads on the App Store, down from 4.4 million a year ago, a 32% drop, according to Appfigures.
