Hands on with X’s New AI-Powered Custom Feeds
AI Custom Timelines Debut on X
X has unveiled AI-driven Custom Timelines, leveraging the power of Grok’s technology to offer users curated feeds across more than 75 topics. These timelines can be pinned to your home tab, allowing a tailored content experience. The update comes as X phases out Communities, its previous feature for user-created groups, due to decreased usage.
How Custom Timelines Work
Unlike traditional feeds based on hashtags or keywords, Grok’s AI reads and analyzes each post to categorize them into specific topics. This approach, made possible by xAI’s advanced models, delivers personalized content based on individual engagement and preferences.
Access and Setup
At launch, Custom Timelines are exclusively available to all tiers of Premium subscribers on iOS, with Android support coming soon. To access this feature, users can scroll past their default "For You" and "Following" feeds, then tap the plus (+) symbol to select up to 10 topics or lists to pin. These selections can be reordered for convenience.
Expanded Category Options
The extensive list of topics includes broad interests like Business & Finance, Sports, Technology, News, Science, and more. Specialized categories cover everything from American football and Formula 1 to AI, cryptocurrencies, and pop culture. This gives users flexibility to explore diverse interests or access real-time discussions, like following a sports event live.
New Ad Opportunities and Feed Customization
One noticeable change is the presence of ads in prominent positions within each custom feed, potentially increasing X’s advertising inventory. This is significant, as the platform has faced challenges with its ad revenue in recent years.
News Category and Neutrality
While news-focused topics initially feature major events like the Iran conflict, crime, and elections, X may consider refinements to better organize and expand “news” categories in the future. Though Grok aims for neutrality, users are encouraged to monitor content diversity.
Conclusion
X’s AI-powered custom feeds empower users to better control and explore the platform, with tools like topic snoozing for more precise personalization. Whether these timelines will transform how people use X is yet to be seen, but they introduce a more dynamic way to engage with content.
For the original article and further insights, visit TechCrunch.
