- X is trying to get advertisers to use the platform's sarcastic AI chatbot, Grok.
- Twitter, the platform, is still trying to lure advertisers back, and Grok is not appealing.
- “X is no longer listed as an option,” one advertiser said.
X employees are encouraging advertisers to use the platform's AI chatbot, Grok.
Grok has been compared to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Meta's new AI advertising tool that can write digital copy and create images for online ad campaigns, according to two advertising industry sources who have heard X's pitch and an X video for advertisers seen by Business Insider.
Grok, which is part of Xai, can't create images, and one advertising insider said the ability to respond to prompts to create ad copy is “basic” and ultimately useless for experienced social or brand managers. Grok's responses are limited to creating text for X posts that can run as ads on the platform.
While many advertisers aren't opposed to using AI in their work, one of the big issues with Grok is that the chatbot has been explicitly trained to use “sarcastic” and flippant tones and even expletives in its responses to user questions.
When it launched late last year, Elon Musk said Grok was “sarcasm-driven and ironic” and designed to be the polar opposite of what he called “woke,” a term commonly used by political conservatives to describe social justice and inclusion efforts. Both sources noted that a typical brand looking to advertise on a digital platform like X doesn't want copy that is crude, ironic or intentionally disregards modern societal norms.
“What advertiser or brand would want Grok to write their ads,” one person asked. Another said Company X employees pushing Grok was a “desperate” move by a company that no longer has broad support for its brands.
“To be honest, X is not on the list of options for any of our customers,” one of the people said. “It's never been a first choice, but it's always been on the list in the past.”
Grok has two modes, “fun” and “normal,” with the latter set to respond in a more direct way. A video presentation reviewed by BI shows an example of Grok responding to a prompt asking for X number of posts from florists in New York City. The first suggestion for ad text begins, “Spring has arrived in New York City!”
A representative for Company X did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Musk acquired the platform as Twitter in late 2022, but since then, it has struggled to retain users and advertisers, who make up the majority of Twitter's revenue. That same year, Musk surprised Twitter by first attempting a hostile takeover, then agreeing to buy the platform for $44 billion, then struggling to walk away from the deal for months, but the platform brought in about $4 billion in advertising revenue. That figure fell by about half in 2023, according to Bloomberg.
Linda Yaccarino was named advertising CEO a year ago, and Musk has retained nearly all of X's operations. The company's adoption of live video and appeal to more right-wing conservative influencers and celebrities has not been very appealing to advertisers.
After Disney and other major brands stopped advertising on the X platform, due to the continued increase in hate speech on the platform and Musk himself endorsing and reinforcing racist propaganda and conspiracy theories, Musk publicly told advertisers who left X in a conference call to “fuck you.”
Now, X is trying to attract small and mid-sized businesses to advertise on Twitter's platform, as the big advertisers that once accounted for the majority of the platform's business have yet to return. Meta dominates this segment of the advertising market, where most businesses of this size spend their advertising budgets. Digital ad spend has risen since last year, and companies like Meta and Google are seeing digital ad-based business boom again. X is now offering all advertisers a $200 discount on ad purchases.
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