Elon Musk to add paid ads to Grok chatbot amid accuracy concerns

New Delhi: Grok will allow advertisers to pay to appear in chatbot suggestions. This marketing initiative comes after Elon Musk has repeatedly criticised OpenAI for its plan to launch a for-profit business, according to the report.

Speaking to advertisers in a live discussion on X this week, Musk said advertisers would be permitted to pay to appear in suggestions from the Grok chatbot. The introduction of paid placements has raised concerns about the potential impact on the accuracy of the chatbot’s responses.

Musk explained, “Our focus thus far has just been on making Grok the smartest, most accurate AI in the world, and I think we’ve largely succeeded in that. So we’ll turn our attention to how do we pay for those expensive GPUs", as quoted by the Financial Times.

The introduction of paid placements raises concerns about the reliability of Grok’s responses. Since AI depends on the information it draws from to provide accurate answers, allowing companies to feature in replies could potentially compromise the chatbot’s objectivity.

Musk commented, “If a user’s trying to solve a problem [by asking Grok], then advertising the specific solution would be ideal at that point.”

The marketing strategy also reflects Musk’s effort to “overcome the curse of Twitter,” referring to users’ resistance to paying for a service or accepting advertising after years of free access.

The question remains whether brands will want to associate themselves with Grok, particularly after the chatbot has been involved in controversies. The report notes that Grok made several anti-Semitic comments last month, including references to Hitler when asked about the Texas flooding, an issue that the development team has since addressed. 

Additionally, Grok has at times responded negatively about Musk himself; in January, when asked if Elon Musk was a good person, the chatbot replied “no,” listing actions that could be viewed unfavourably.