Elon Musk pledges to open source X's recommendation algorithm amid regulatory pressure

Elon Musk Says X to Make Its Algorithm Open Source in Seven Days

The company has been working to incorporate more artificial intelligence into its recommendation algorithm for X, using Grok, Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot. Social media platform X will open its new algorithm to the public in seven days, Elon Musk said on Saturday, including the code used to decide what posts and advertisements are recommended to users. "This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed," Musk, who owns X, said in a postBloomberg Terminal on the platform. The billionaire didn't say why X was making its algorithm open source. He and the company have clashed several times with regulators over content being shown to users. Some X users had previously complained that they were receiving fewer posts on the social media platform from people they follow. In October, Musk confirmed in a post on X that the company had found a "significant bug" in the platform's "For You" algorithm and pledged a fix. The company has also been working to incorporate more artificial intelligence into its recommendation algorithm for X, using Grok, Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot. Musk has promised in recent years to make some of X's algorithms public, but the follow-through has been spotty. In September, Musk wrote that the goal was for X's recommendation engine to "be purely AI" and that the company would share its open source algorithm about every two weeks. "To the degree that people are seeing improvements in their feed, it is not due to the actions of specific individuals changing heuristics, but rather increasing use of Grok and other AI tools," Musk wrote in October. The company was working to have all of the more than 100 million daily posts published to X evaluated by Grok, which would then offer individual users the posts most likely to interest them, Musk wrote. "This will profoundly improve the quality of your feed." He added that the company was planning to roll out the new features by November. Grok's image-generation capabilities have faced criticism from global regulators over a recent flood of AI-generated images that sexualize women and children on X. As of Friday, Grok told users on X that they would need a paid subscription to generate and edit images. Those features were initially introduced on X for free with daily limits. Indonesia blocked access to Grok after an investigation into the AI system's generation of sexual content. This week, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer demanded Musk's X urgently "get their act together" over the sexualized images. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall warned in a statement on Friday the government could "block services from being accessed in the UK, if they refuse to comply with UK law." European regulators in particular have stepped up scrutiny of the company with a focus on misinformation, inadequate content moderation and shortcomings in transparency. In July, the French authorities asked the company to share its algorithm as part of a probe into allegations of bias and manipulation. X at the time said it would not comply with the request, accusing the investigation of being politically motivated.

Musk to open new X algorithm for public in seven days: Report

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that he will open the new X algorithm to the public in seven days. It will include all code for organic and advertising post recommendations. "We will publish the full algorithm in a week. Still much to improve. It's just trying to show you what you are most likely to find interesting. The goal is to maximise unregretted user-seconds," Musk said. "This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed," he posted on X. The world's richest man didn't say why X was making its algorithm open source. He and the company have clashed several times with regulators over content being shown to users. The decision comes as the European Commission has decided to extend a retention order sent to X last year, which related to algorithms and dissemination of illegal content. Some X users had previously complained that they were receiving fewer posts on the social media platform from people they follow. In October, Musk confirmed in a post on X that the company had found a "significant bug" in the platform's "For You" algorithm and pledged a fix. The company has also been working to incorporate more artificial intelligence into its recommendation algorithm for X, using Grok. Meanwhile, Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has announced the completion of a $20 billion funding round from investors including Nvidia, Valor Equity Partners and the Qatar Investment Authority. The company did not disclose individual investment amounts or the split between debt and equity, and named Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research, MGX, Baron Capital Group and Cisco Systems Inc.'s investment group among other investors who participated in the funding. xAI had planned for roughly $7.5 billion of equity and up to $12.5 billion of debt parked in a special purpose vehicle to buy Nvidia processors. The chips would be rented out for five years, allowing financiers to recoup their investment, according to reports.