X’s latest Community Notes experiment allows AI to write the first draft

X is experimenting with a new way for AI to write Community Notes. The company is testing a new “collaborative notes” feature that allows human writers to request an AI-written Community Note.

It’s not the first time the platform has experimented with AI in Community Notes. The company started a pilot program last year to allow developers to create dedicated AI note writers. But the latest experiment sounds like a more streamlined process.

According to the company, when an existing Community Note contributor requests a note on a post, the request “now also kicks off creation of a Collaborative Note.” Contributors can then rate the note or suggest improvements. “Collaborative Notes can update over time as suggestions and ratings come in,” X says. “When considering an update, the system reviews new input from contributors to make the note as helpful as possible, then decides whether the new version is a meaningful improvement.”

X doesn’t say whether it’s using Grok or another AI tool to actually generate the fact check. If it was using Grok, that would be in-line with how a lot of X users currently invoke the AI on threads with replies like “@grok is this true?”

Community Notes has often been criticized for moving too slowly so adding AI into the mix could help speed up the process of getting notes published. Keith Coleman, who oversees Community Notes at X, wrote in a post that the update also provides “a new way to make models smarter in the process (continuous learning from community feedback).” On the other hand, we don’t have to look very far to find examples of Grok losing touch with reality or worse.

According to X, only Community Note Contributors with a “top writer” status will be able to initiate a collaborative note to start, though it expects to expand availability “over time.”