Elon Musk reveals X plans to place ads in Grok’s responses to sustain ad revenue amid leadership changes

Elon Musk announced during a live discussion with advertisers on Wednesday that X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, plans to integrate ads directly into Grok’s responses. The move, reported by the Financial Times, aims to revitalize X’s struggling advertising business following the departure of former CEO Linda Yaccarino. Musk said the platform’s recent focus has been on making Grok the most intelligent and accurate AI available, a goal he believes has largely been achieved. “So we’ll turn our attention to how do we pay for those expensive GPUs,” he stated during the event. Under the new plan, advertisers would have the opportunity to pay to appear in Grok’s suggested answers when users seek solutions to specific problems. Musk explained that placing ads at the moment of user intent—when someone is actively trying to solve an issue—would be highly effective. “If a user’s trying to solve a problem, then advertising the specific solution would be ideal at that point,” he said. The initiative will leverage technology developed by xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, which acquired X earlier this year for $45 billion. xAI’s advanced AI models and targeting capabilities are expected to enhance the precision and relevance of ads delivered through Grok, improving both user experience and ad performance. The announcement signals a strategic shift for X, which has struggled to attract advertisers since the leadership changes and rebranding. By embedding ads within AI-generated responses, Musk aims to create a new revenue stream while capitalizing on the growing use of AI assistants for everyday queries.