Elon Musk Ripped Compute from xAI to Sell at $15 an Hour
Why Elon Musk throttled Grokbot to sell spot compute to Anthropic and Google at $15 an hour instead of burning cash on consumer tokens.
$AAPL + $PLTR, GDPx, Value of a Search, Grok Bot Breaks the Bank
With John Coogan, Jordi Hays, Harley Finkelstein, Bridgit Mendler, Dylan Patel, Max Kan, Andrew Megalaa, Tyler · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
John Coogan and Jordi Hays review tech earnings from Apple and Palantir, analyze Google's shift toward zero-click AI search, and discuss the infrastructure costs behind Elon Musk's Grokbot. Shopify President Harley Finkelstein details Q3 earnings and the rise of agentic shopping, while Northwood Space CEO Bridgit Mendler announces a $375 million Series C round for satellite ground stations. Finally, Dylan Patel, Max Kan, and Andrew Megalaa from SemiAnalysis break down their GDPX benchmark and discuss where the first trillion dollars in AI compute spend will actually be generated.
Key takeaways
- Musk pulled back on Grokbot because consumer chat tokens were draining compute that commands up to $15 an hour on the spot market against a $4 total cost of ownership. Read more →
- Google AI mode answers queries directly on the search results page, removing the primary incentive for users to click external links. Read more →
- SemiAnalysis built the GDPX benchmark to evaluate frontier AI models on high-ceiling technical engineering rather than generic white-collar tasks. Read more →
3 articles from this episode
Google AI Mode Is Starving Inbound Funnels
John Coogan and Jordi Hays explain why Google's zero-click AI search breaks content-led growth and shifts power to direct destinations.
SemiAnalysis on Where the First Trillion in AI Spend Goes
SemiAnalysis explains why the first trillion in AI spend belongs to chip design and battery chemistry, not generic white-collar desk work.
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