Elon Musk hints at Grok algorithm upgrade after Paul Graham's concerns over X discourse
Elon Musk announced that a 'much improved' Grok-powered algorithm is forthcoming, responding to concerns raised by Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham about the quality of discourse on X (formerly Twitter).Graham posted on Friday: 'I remember the days when Twitter felt like a wasteland of left-wing trolls. Now it's a wasteland of right-wing ones. I wonder if this is the inevitable fate of sufficiently large forums. Do extremists of one sort or another always drown out the thoughtful people?'
Musk replied: 'A much improved Grok-powered algorithm is coming. Should help a lot.'Graham later added, 'I don't think this is something you can fix with an algorithm. I think it's a fundamental problem with the way people behave in large groups.'
Musk did not provide further details about the nature of the improvements or the timeline for the rollout.
Grok, developed by Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, was launched in late 2023 and is integrated into X's premium subscription tiers. It is positioned as a rival to OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude.Since its debut, Grok has drawn attention for its real-time access to X posts and its conversational style but has also faced criticism over accuracy and depth compared to more established models. Musk has previously indicated that frequent updates to Grok would narrow the performance gap over time.
The exchange with Graham underscores broader concerns about how large platforms manage discourse as they scale and whether AI tools can play a role in moderating or improving the quality of engagement.
Earlier this year, Musk's xAI raised $6 billion to fund expansion, with plans to build out infrastructure, train larger models, and open-source Grok in the future.
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