Social network X, formerly known as Twitter, is reportedly testing free access to its AI chatbot, Grok, which was previously available only to premium subscribers.

Developed by Elon Musk’s AI company xAI, Grok is now being trialed among non-paying users in select regions, including New Zealand, marking a potential step toward a broader rollout.

Throughout the weekend, several app researchers and users noticed that access to Grok had become available to certain non-premium accounts.

TechCrunch has since confirmed that X is actively testing this free version in New Zealand, sparking speculation that more users worldwide may soon have access to Grok’s services without a subscription.

Access to the chatbot currently includes some restrictions. As reported by app researcher Swak, users can submit up to 10 queries every two hours with the Grok-2 model and 20 queries using the smaller Grok-2 mini version.

For image analysis, users are limited to three requests per day. Additionally, accounts must meet eligibility criteria, such as being at least seven days old and linked to a verified phone number, to qualify for free access.

Launched in August, Grok-2 is powered by Black Forest Labs’ FLUX.1 technology and supports both text and image-based queries. Recent upgrades in October enabled Grok to interpret and analyze images, a feature initially reserved for Premium and Premium+ subscribers.