Ars Technica reports that Musk is allegedly requiring banks and other advisers seeking roles in the SpaceX IPO to buy Grok subscriptions as part of the deal. That looks less like confidence in the product than coercive bundling by a man using market power to prop up a struggling side venture. 🤖💰🧨 “Banks and other firms that want to work on SpaceX’s initial public offering (IPO) are being required to buy subscriptions to the Grok AI service, The New York Times reported today.” Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica “Elon Musk ‘is requiring banks, law firms, auditors and other advisers working on the IPO to buy subscriptions to Grok, his artificial intelligence chatbot that is part of SpaceX.’” “Some of the banks have agreed to spend tens of millions on the chatbot and they have already started integrating Grok into their IT systems.” “Mr. Musk insisted that [banks] purchase the chatbot services.” Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, quoting The New York Times

𝙸𝙲𝚈𝙼𝙸︱Ars reports Musk is allegedly making banks buy Grok to get a seat at the SpaceX IPO table. That is not “synergy.” It is 𝖈𝖔𝖊𝖗𝖈𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖙𝖎𝖊-𝖎𝖓 𝖘𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌 with a billionaire’s thumb on the scale. 🤖💸🚫 #ElonMusk #Grok #SpaceX #CorporateAbuse #MonopolyBehavior