X (formerly Twitter) has announced plans to expand access to its Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot, Grok, developed by Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, which was previously available only to premium, paying users.
According to reports, a free version of Grok was becoming available in select regions.
TechCrunch confirmed that X is currently testing Grok access for free users in New Zealand.
According to a researcher known as Swak on X, there are currently some usage limits for free users: 10 queries every two hours with the Grok-2 model, 20 queries per two hours with the Grok-2 mini model, and up to three image analysis questions daily.
To access Grok for free, accounts must be at least seven days old and have a phone number linked.
xAI launched Grok-2 in August, which includes image generation capabilities powered by Black Forest Labs’ FLUX.1 model.
Last month, the model was also upgraded to interpret images.
Until now, these features were available only to Premium and Premium+ users.
By making Grok available to free users, xAI may be aiming to expand its user base and speed up feedback on its products, potentially helping it compete more effectively with other AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.