Elon Musk confirmed that weekly usage limits on Grok Bot, the agentic AI tool tied to SpaceX, were cut on purpose because of running costs, according to TechCrunch and TechRadar. Replying to a user on X, Musk wrote that the cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to the revenue it brings in.

The confirmation followed complaints from users who said their weekly quota had suddenly maxed out over the Halloween weekend, despite not using Grok Bot more than usual. Grok Bot is SpaceX's agentic AI tool, built to carry out tasks on its own — like answering emails or placing orders — within a weekly usage allowance.

The jump users flagged first

Both TechCrunch and TechRadar reported users whose usage jumped from 50% to 100% of their weekly cap overnight, with no extra activity to explain it. TechRadar logged further cases, with jumps from 35% to 78% and from 70% to 100%. Several users said their quota maxed out while they were asleep, without having opened Grok Bot at all.

One user told TechRadar they normally don't even come close to hitting the limit. Musk replied directly to a post on X confirming this wasn't a glitch — the cut was intentional. He did not say how the limits will be handled going forward, and TechCrunch notes he has not addressed the issue again on his main feed, where he has kept promoting Grok Bot as a tool for buying gifts.

A business under cost pressure

Per TechCrunch, newly public SpaceX disclosed in a filing last month that AI now makes up 52% of the company's income. Its renamed "Super Intelligence" division reportedly posted a $431 million profit, which would have been higher if not for $1.2 billion in one-time costs tied to its acquisition of Cursor, the outlet reported. The same report notes Musk previously called Grok Bot the fastest-growing product he has ever seen.

TechRadar frames the move inside a broader pattern: AI stocks fell sharply last week on investor concerns about profitability across the industry, and Google itself said AI summaries in search have cut into its advertising revenue. The outlet also notes OpenAI quietly tightened its own usage limits in recent weeks, and points out that subscribers to tools like ChatGPT and Claude Code often burn through far more in tokens than they pay in a monthly subscription — a gap TechRadar says is raising questions about how sustainable those business models really are.

A Reddit thread cited by TechRadar described the Grok Bot cut as an "indirect rug pull" — a term for when a benefit offered generously gets pulled back without warning. TechRadar writes it wouldn't be surprised if Grok Bot's lower cap turns out to be just the first of several similar moves across the industry.

Neither outlet reports a specific number for how much it costs SpaceX to run each Grok Bot session, so the size of the gap between cost and revenue Musk described remains unclear. Both TechCrunch and TechRadar frame the throttling as a sign that AI companies are starting to test how much usage they can realistically subsidize before raising prices or tightening access becomes unavoidable.

In practice

  • Grok Bot is the agentic AI tool tied to SpaceX, used by subscribers on X; neither outlet details specific plan tiers or pricing.
  • The cut showed up over the Halloween weekend (Oct. 31–Nov. 1), per TechCrunch.
  • Before the change, users say they rarely hit 100% of their weekly quota; now the cap is reached even under normal use.
  • Musk has not said whether the lower limits are permanent or will shift again in coming weeks.
  • Who's affected: Grok Bot users who rely on the weekly usage allowance.