Elon Musk, apparently bored of merely reinventing space travel, electric cars, and grenade-launching flamethrowers, has now collected a casual $6 billion for his artificial intelligence venture xAI, which aims to challenge the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft in what one might generously call an already somewhat crowded room of supercomputers brainstorming their own supremacy.
The funding round, which Musk announced with all the subtlety of a thunderclap on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and currently known as his, included contributions from notably deep-pocketed supporters including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity and, presumably, at least one billionaire with a grudge against ChatGPT.
xAI, which stands for “x Artificial Intelligence,” and not “extremely ambitious,” was founded last year and has since debuted its own large language model called Grok, presumably named after the verb coined by sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein and not the typical sound one makes after reading Musk’s latest tweet. Grok is now integrated into his other hobby project, X, offering users what could be generously described as a sassier, more opinionated alternative to standard chatbot fare.
The company states that Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit more wit and rebellion, which many users have noted sounds suspiciously like Elon Musk himself in machine form. It remains to be seen whether Grok will become a genuine rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT or whether it simply enjoys sparring with journalists at 3 AM.
According to Musk, the new funds will allow the company to bring its first products to market and continue building what he describes as “advanced AI systems that are truthful, competent, and maximally beneficial.” Which, in this economy, really means something approximating a chatbot that doesn’t hallucinate your mother’s middle name while demanding crypto.
The fundraising round values xAI at around $24 billion, which either means investors believe in the future of ethical AI or they have finally admitted that financial logic doesn’t apply in Elon’s orbit. Either way, the checkbooks remain open.
As for timelines, the company has been vaguely gesturing toward a future where xAI solves artificial general intelligence, possibly just after lunch and before rocket prototype testing.
What does this mean for the broader tech world? Likely more bots, more competition, and more late-night tweets from Musk comparing Grok to other AI models with the enthusiasm of a child explaining the superiority of their LEGO robot.
xAI’s website notes that the company operates separately from Musk’s other ventures but works closely with Tesla and X, prompting the reasonable assumption that all of Elon’s companies eventually end up sitting at the same Thanksgiving table anyway.
At this point, Elon Musk may not be satisfied until he builds an AI smart enough to argue with him and bold enough to win.