Social media platform X has released the source code behind its recommendation engine, opening up the system that determines how posts are ranked in users' feeds. Elon Musk confirmed the move in a post on X, acknowledging that the current algorithm has “notable flaws” and describing it as “dumb.”
He said the decision aims to increase transparency by allowing the public to observe how the system evolves in real time.
“We know the algorithm is dumb and needs massive improvements, but at least you can see us struggle to make it better in real-time and with transparency. No other social media companies do this,” Musk said.
X said the newly published recommendation system is built on the same transformer-based architecture that underpins Grok, the AI model developed by Musk's firm xAI. The source code has been uploaded to GitHub, giving developers, researchers, and users the ability to examine how posts and ads are surfaced on the platform.
According to the company, the release provides clearer insight into how content is ranked and promoted, covering both organic posts and advertising. As a result, mechanisms governing feed placement, discovery beyond followed accounts, and the weighting of engagement signals can now be scrutinized publicly.
X says the move will allow developers to analyse how various signals interact and to identify possible flaws or biases.
Since taking over X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, Musk has repeatedly criticised closed-door algorithms used by major social media platforms, arguing for greater user visibility into how content is selected and prioritised.
The company said publishing the code is part of making transparency a “foundational feature” of X, rather than something communicated only through policy documents or blog posts.
The move also advances Musk's earlier pledge to open-source X's recommendation engine. Unlike the partial and quickly outdated code shared in 2023, the latest release is described as the live production system currently running on the platform.
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