Back to Blog
April 22, 2026 • Sarah Perez

X's AI-Powered Custom Feeds Explained

X's AI-Powered Custom Feeds Explained X's AI-Powered Custom Feeds Explained X's AI-Powered Custom Feeds Explained

Hands-on with X’s new AI-powered custom feeds

X is introducing Grok-powered Custom Timelines, a significant update that allows users to curate their feed based on over 75 specific topics. This feature replaces the now-defunct X Communities and aims to provide a more personalized content experience.

Key Features and Functionality

  • AI-Powered Curation: Grok's AI analyzes posts to understand their topics, enabling the creation of custom feeds without relying on traditional signals like keywords or hashtags.
  • Topic Variety: Over 75 topics are available, ranging from broad categories like Business & Finance, Sports, and Technology to niche interests such as Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrency, Robotics, and specific sports and music genres.
  • Personalization: The custom timelines are personalized for individual users, going beyond simple topic labels.
  • Integration with Grok: The feature leverages AI models from xAI, the company that acquired X.
  • User Interface: Users can access custom timelines by scrolling past their main feeds and tapping a '+' sign to pin desired topics to their home tab. A limit of 10 pinned topics or lists is in place.
  • Ad Integration: Notably, ads are integrated into the second position of each custom feed, suggesting a strategy to increase ad inventory.

Availability and Access

  • Premium Subscribers: The feature is initially available to Premium subscribers on iOS. Android support is planned.
  • Subscription Tiers: All Premium subscription tiers can access this feature.

Potential Concerns and Observations

  • News Topic Bias: The initial news categories (War, Crime, Elections) might influence user perception of current events. Concerns exist regarding Grok's potential political leanings or amplification of misinformation, though initial testing suggests a range of sources are included.
  • User Behavior Impact: It remains to be seen if custom feeds will significantly alter user engagement patterns on X, though they offer a way to explore new interests or focus on relevant topics.
  • Complementary Features: Custom timelines work alongside X's new "Snooze Topics" option for the "For You" feed, allowing for more precise content tailoring.

Replacement for X Communities

The introduction of Custom Timelines coincides with X's decision to shut down X Communities, a feature that allowed users to create member-based groups around specific topics but saw declining usage.