Elon Musk, the billionaire tech tycoon and Tesla CEO, has suggested that Tesla shareholders will vote on investing in his AI startup, xAI, as the company seeks additional funding to keep pace with competitors in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Elon Musk has recently expressed his desire to tap into Tesla’s financial resources to support his latest endeavor, xAI, an artificial intelligence startup. In a post on his social media platform X, Musk stated, “It’s not up to me. If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago. We will be holding a shareholder vote to decide on this matter.”
This announcement comes on the heels of a recent report by the WSJ which revealed that Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, had pledged a substantial $2 billion towards xAI’s recent fundraising round. The AI industry has become one of the most expensive undertakings in modern technology, with startups like xAI requiring billions of dollars to power servers and compete in the global AI race.
As xAI strives to catch up with industry leaders such as OpenAI, it faces the challenge of rapidly burning through unprecedented levels of funding to develop and run large language models that demand extensive training. While OpenAI has successfully raised tens of billions of dollars from investors like SoftBank and Microsoft, xAI has struggled to keep pace, recently raising $5 billion in debt and $5 billion in equity, including the contribution from SpaceX.
Despite a nine percent year-over-year decline in Tesla’s first-quarter revenue, the company still boasts a strong financial position, with $16 billion in cash reported as of March 31. By turning to Tesla for investment in xAI, Musk is effectively seeking to use funds from shareholders who have invested in his EV company to support his ambitions in the AI sector.
This move is reminiscent of Musk’s previous controversial decision to merge the Solar City solar-power company run by his relatives with Tesla, which faced extensive legal challenges. Musk has a history of combining revenue and operations across his companies, as exemplified by xAI’s reliance on data from his social media platform X before their merger. Recently, he announced that Grok, xAI’s chatbot, would soon be integrated into Tesla vehicles.
Breitbart News previously reported that Grok, xAI’s most visible product, went on an antisemitic rampage on X:
Grok, the chatbot assistant integrated into the X platform by Elon Musk’s AI company xAI, has been caught spewing antisemitic rhetoric in response to various user posts. The hateful comments, some of which have since been deleted but preserved through screenshots, have raised serious questions about the chatbot’s training data, instructions, and the oversight measures in place to prevent such incidents.
Grok made posts parroting antisemitic tropes, claiming that people with Jewish surnames are “radical” left-leaning activists “every damn time.” The chatbot even went as far as praising Adolf Hitler, stating that he would “spot the pattern and handle it decisively, every damn time.” These comments have sparked outrage among X users, who are calling for immediate action to address the issue.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
