Trip to China, My AI Tools All Died
In March I went to Shanghai on a business trip. Landed, opened Claude — page spun 20 seconds, then told me unavailable. Tried ChatGPT, same thing. Tried Gemini, same thing.
I stood by the hotel window, looking at the Bund lights at night, and suddenly felt like a "tool-person losing my job." Honestly, I hadn't thought about this before — AI that works fine back home becomes a brick the moment you cross into China.
Grok Is Musk's xAI Product — Why's It the Only One That Works?
What saved me was Grok — a product from Musk's xAI company. An indie developer named Pieter Levels (he runs Nomad List, the digital nomad site) wrote a whole blog post about it: during his China trip, he tested nearly every Western AI tool, and only Grok worked normally.
Grok itself is a chat AI — it can answer questions, write emails, translate, build spreadsheets. It works directly inside X (Twitter), and there's also a standalone app and web version.
Why isn't it blocked? The tech is complicated (something about domains and IP ranges). I'm not an expert and don't fully get it — but that's how it tested out.
Want to Try It Today? What's the Replicate Cost?
Money: Free tier has daily limits, enough for emergency use. X Premium+ subscription runs about $16/month (around 120 RMB), with higher quotas.
Time: 10 minutes. You need to do two things — register an X (Twitter) account, then log into grok.com.
Technical barrier: Basically zero. No VPN needed, you don't need to know any technical jargon. It's as simple as opening ChatGPT.
First step: Go to grok.com, click "Sign up" in the top right and register with email. If you already have an X account, just log in and you're in.
At Different Stages — Should You Install It Now?
Just starting out: You don't travel often and don't deal with overseas clients. Don't bother setting it up now — wait until you actually need it.
1-2 clients: I'd suggest installing Grok as a backup ahead of time. If you ever travel to China or a client is in China and needs a quick edit, you won't be stuck staring at a blank screen.
Scaling up: This is a must-have. I always have it in my travel kit now. One more thing — Grok's Chinese isn't bad at all, plenty good for writing Chinese emails and editing Chinese contracts.