Elon Musk’s xAI Secures $6 Billion in Latest Funding Round

PARIS: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, has announced a successful funding round, raising $6 billion from a range of global investors. The funding solidifies xAI’s position as a key player in the competitive AI industry.

The investment saw participation from major US venture capital firms, leading chipmakers NVIDIA and AMD, and sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, among others. This comes as xAI continues to push the boundaries of AI technology with its flagship product, the Grok chatbot.

Musk, known for his cautious stance on AI, has repeatedly expressed concerns about its potential risks to humanity. However, he remains determined to establish a dominant presence in the sector. xAI previously raised $6 billion earlier this year, and its valuation now stands at an estimated $50 billion, making it one of the world’s most valuable startups. Despite this, it still trails behind rival OpenAI, valued at approximately $157 billion.

Announcing the funding on Monday, xAI stated that the new capital will be used to develop groundbreaking products aimed at billions of users and to accelerate research into future technologies. The company emphasised its mission to explore and understand the “true nature of the universe.”

Musk highlighted the intensive computational power required to advance AI projects, underscoring the importance of the funding. He launched xAI in July 2023, shortly after advocating for a pause in the development of advanced AI models through an open letter.

In addition to expanding xAI, Musk is currently engaged in a legal dispute with OpenAI, a company he co-founded in 2015 but left in 2018. He alleges that OpenAI’s shift from a non-profit to a for-profit organization violates its initial commitments.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, xAI’s growth marks another bold step in Musk’s broader technological ambitions, which also include his roles at Tesla and SpaceX.