X unveils 2024 roadmap: Peer-to-peer payments and AI-driven experiences

Elon Musk has outlined his vision for transforming X, formerly Twitter, into an all-encompassing everything-app consisting of payments, creator tools, and shopping since taking ownership of the platform over a year ago. The company has now unveiled its roadmap for the upcoming year, featuring AI-driven experiences and the introduction of peer-to-peer payments, among other initiatives.

Musk envisions X users being able to send and receive money on the platform, withdrawing funds to authenticated bank accounts. He has also floated the idea of offering high-yield money market accounts in the future to encourage users to keep more of their funds within X.

In its recent blog post, X announced plans to launch peer-to-peer payments within the year, aiming to enhance user utility and open up new opportunities for commerce. This move is expected to integrate with other X products, such as creator revenue sharing and online shopping. The company has committed to ongoing investments in creators, content partnerships, original content, full-funnel ads, and brand safety.

The company is actively pursuing advertiser relationships and has highlighted its vertical video ad brand safety initiatives in a recent post.

The announcement also hinted at the integration of AI into X's future plans, following the launch of Musk's ChatGPT competitor, the Grok chatbot. While details were not extensively covered, the post mentioned AI's role in powering user and advertising experiences, specifically in areas like search enhancement, ad improvement, and fostering a deeper understanding of customers through AI-powered tools.

Musk's AI company, xAI, is set to power consumer-facing features, including the recently introduced "See Similar Posts" and an upcoming "See Dissimilar Posts" feature, designed to encourage users to challenge their perspectives.

The post acknowledged challenges, such as the suspension of journalists from the platform, but affirmed progress over the past year, including the launch of long-form video, audio and video calling, X Hiring (job search), the expansion of Communities, Grok, creator tools, and more. Notable achievements include users watching over "130 years' worth of videos" lasting 30 minutes or longer and engaging in calls with an average duration of 10 minutes. Additionally, over 80,000 creators have received payouts through X's revenue-sharing program in less than a year, although a specific figure was not provided.