X announced the launch of its rebuilt ad platform, which will now utilize the latest artificial intelligence models from xAI to power improved targeting and performance for campaigns.
The updated ad platform is built around three core pillars: simplicity, control and improved ad performance, driven by enhanced AI relevance matching.
X said its reformed ad platform is the biggest ad system update in the company’s history, “reflecting the boldness and speed of innovation that defines both X and xAI.
As per X: “This transformative upgrade introduces modern retrieval and ranking systems powered by state-of-the-art AI. These systems understand user behavior at a much deeper level, enabling more precise, relevant and dynamic ad delivery that aligns with what’s happening on X in real-time.”
X said its shift toward AI-driven contextual and semantic advertising “will bring meaningful lifts in relevance, engagement and ROI.”
X has been working on this updated approach for some time. Digiday reported that X’s owner Elon Musk told prospective ad partners in August 2025 that xAI’s Grok system would eventually enable full advertising automation on the platform.
Per Digiday, Musk made the claim on an X Spaces live chat, in which he also claimed that Grok would be able to assess content for brand safety.
Musk’s vision is that Grok will actually undertake the whole ad creation process on users’ behalf. He said that Grok will eventually be so good “that you should be able to upload an ad and do nothing else. Grok will figure out everything from there. You don’t need to do anything at all,” according to Digiday.
That’s not happening quite yet, and Musk’s predictions tend to be ahead of their time. But this new ad platform update does aim to integrate more AI automation elements, which would be a stepping stone to the next stage of its ad development.
Though it is also interesting to note Elon’s softening stance on ads and the use of promotions for his own businesses.
By his own admission, Elon Musk hates ads, and long avoided doing any paid promotion at all for Tesla, SpaceX or Starlink.
But with X’s ad business struggling, Tesla bought a heap of X ads in 2024, though it has since scaled back, according to TechCrunch. Meanwhile, Musk’s other businesses have also turned to paid promotion, both on X and on other social platforms, as a means to boost interest.
With Tesla sales in decline, the company likely had little choice on this front, but that also has the side benefit of driving more ad spend on X, with Musk’s own organizations paying his other businesses for exposure.
Musk originally hoped he could transform X into a profitable business based primarily on user subscriptions, but that plan hasn’t come to fruition. Only a small percentage of X users actually pay for X Premium add-on packages.
That’s why its ad business is now back in focus, with X investing significant time and energy into updating the process in order to drive improved performance for brands.
It will be interesting to see whether businesses get more results from their X campaigns once the AI system guides the process.
