On January 20, 2026, X open-sourced its flagship "For You" feed algorithm, signaling a new era of transparency and community collaboration. Powered by a transformer architecture with millions of parameters—the same backbone as xAI’s Grok model—the AI-driven system replaces rule-based filters with machine learning to rank and present posts tailored to individual preferences.
Unlike traditional feeds that follow manually crafted rules, X’s new algorithm analyzes each user’s past interactions—likes, shares, and blocks—assigning scores to potential posts. Content with higher scores moves to the top of the feed, boosting positive engagement while minimizing unwanted content.
The system gathers posts from two main sources: in-network (from accounts you already follow) and out-of-network (discoveries across X). Before scoring, it removes recently viewed content and posts from blocked accounts. After scoring, it filters out deleted or inappropriate content and limits repeats from the same creator to ensure variety.
Elon Musk shared on X: "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."
The full source code is now live on GitHub and will be refreshed every four weeks, inviting developers and researchers worldwide to review, experiment, and contribute to the evolving model. This move underscores a growing trend in social platforms embracing open-source principles to build trust and accelerate innovation.
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X open-sources feed algorithm, with AI-driven scoring at its core
cgtn.com
