Elon Musk says X to charge new users to tackle bots

Elon Musk intends to introduce a nominal fee for new users of X (formerly Twitter) in order to allow posting on the platform. He believes this fee could address the issue of bot activity.

Musk posted via X, “Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots. Current AI (and troll farms) can pass “are you a bot” with ease.”

While referring to CAPTCHA, he adds, “Current AI (and troll farms) can pass “are you a bot” with ease.”

In response to a user's query about the changes on X, Musk stated that the only effective way to combat the influx of bots is by implementing a small fee for new accounts. He clarified that this fee would only apply to new users, who would gain free posting privileges after three months from their account creation.

“The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result,” Musk adds.

Regarding the recent changes on X, an automated account that monitors X's website flagged a shift in policy. X experimented with charging a $1 annual subscription fee for users in the Philippines and New Zealand.

New X users will be charged for access to features such as posting, liking, bookmarking, and replying to tweets, as outlined in the "Not-a-Bot" terms and conditions. However, they can still follow other accounts and explore the platform for free. Following a significant decline in its value since Musk's acquisition, the platform faced a substantial loss in ad revenue in 2023 due to advertisers pulling their spending.

Musk has recently forecasted a significant advancement in the AI race by the upcoming year, possibly by 2026, surpassing even the intellect of the "smartest human."

"If you define AGI by if it’s smarter than human, I think it's possible next year or like within two years.” He adds that for AI to become smarter than machine-augmented or all humans working together, who will also use computers to augment output, it’s “probably five years away."

He notes that when examining the dedicated computer hardware for AI, its complexity is growing by a factor of at least 10 annually.

As the head of an xAI company competing with entities like OpenAI and Google, the billionaire remarks that numerous highly intelligent individuals are drawn to AI due to its rapid evolution, making it the most dynamic field currently.

“A lot of the best talents and smartest are going into AIs. Along with that, we see algorithmic breakthroughs. Then you start hitting the wall with data problems," he adds.