Musk eyes $1bn for startup xAI as he seeks to expand tech empire
Elon Musk is hoping to raise $1bn (£0.8bn) in equity for his artificial intelligence (AI) model xAI, as the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire tries to get his latest project off the ground and gain an edge on the big tech companies in the race for AI dominance.
Investors must commit to anywhere upwards of $2m (£1.6m) with $135m (£107m) already raised, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Last month, Musk announced his plans to integrate his xAI startup into his social media platform X via a chatbot named Grok, which has access to real-time information through the site formerly known as Twitter.
However, advertisers cannot get away from the site fast enough, especially as their ads have recently been shown near antisemitic content. The father of 11 told them to “Go fuck yourself” in a heated interview last week.
It comes as the big tech companies are vying with each other for the lead in AI, with countless chatbots and generative AI models released publicly since OpenAI unleashed a pandora’s box with the launch of ChatGPT last year.
OpenAI has been mired in crisis over recent weeks after a messy kerfuffle over the management.
In the summer, Meta announced it would roll out a small army of across its Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp apps, each with their own distinctive persona.
Amazon said a few months ago it would invest up to $4bn (£3.3bn) into its rising AI startup Anthropic, while Google’s chatbot Bard flopped on its arrival in February.