Musk’s xAI raises $6Bn to battle ChatGPT
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has raised a staggering $6 billion in funding to accelerate its development of advanced AI systems and technologies.
This massive influx of capital positions xAI as a formidable contender in the intensifying AI race against rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Musk, who founded xAI last summer, asserts that this substantial influx of capital will be used to “take xAI’s first products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development of future technologies.”
xAI is pleased to announce..https://t.co/uu0ioPgS8V
— xAI (@xai) May 27, 2024
Billionaire investors back Musk’s xAI
The funding round drew high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. According to Musk, xAI was valued at $18 billion prior to this investment.
So far, xAI’s primary offering is Grok, an AI chatbot currently available only to premium subscribers on Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, reports suggest xAI aims to construct a powerful AI supercomputer by late 2024, requiring a massive investment in cutting-edge hardware like Nvidia’s pricey AI chips. Musk has ambitious plans to deploy 100,000 of Nvidia’s latest H100 chips to power an upgraded version of Grok.
Musk’s vision of the future of work
In his recent address at the VivaTech conference in Paris, Musk shared his optimistic yet challenging perspective on AI’s impact on future employment and societal structure.
“In a benign scenario probably none of us will have a job,” he said.
“But in that benign scenario there will be universal high income—not universal base income—[and] there will be no shortage of goods or services.”
In 2023, the tech billionaire said AI is “the most disruptive force in history” and will eventually become smarter than humans.
“There will come a point where no job is needed,” Musk told UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at an AI safety summit.
“You can have a job if you want one for personal satisfaction, but the AI will do everything.”
Musk believes that as AI advances, robots and machines will be able to replace human labor fully across all occupations.
