The additional revenue from X Premium+ is partly intended to support xAI, a separate company responsible for Grok AI, which recently expanded its operations with a $6 billion funding round and a new AI data center. While the direct impact of the price increase on AI development is unclear, X continues to update its Grok chatbot and promote a standalone Grok app. The success of these initiatives remains uncertain, as the platform struggles to meet its ambitious subscription goals and relies on potential future AI advancements to attract more users.
Key takeaways:
- X Premium+ subscription price will increase by 30%, from $16 to $22 per month, to support ad-free experiences and higher AI usage limits.
- The price hike aims to fund X's ongoing AI development and creator revenue share model, despite X Premium's limited subscriber base.
- xAI, a separate company from X, raised $6 billion in Series C funding to expand its AI operations, including building a data center with 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs.
- Elon Musk's original projection for X Premium subscriber growth is far from being met, casting doubt on its potential as a major revenue driver.