Elon Musk's xAI startup raises US$6b to take on OpenAI
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The news: Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, has raised USD6 billion ($9 billion) in a Series B funding round that included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capita and Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding.
The context: xAI is Musk's attempt to take on OpenAI, Anthropic and Google's Deepmind, the three labs leading AI development.
Musk bankrolled OpenAI in 2015 to help create a more ethically-minded counterweight to Google's Deepmind, which he feared would monopolise AI development. He later left the startup, claiming to have become disillusioned by its profit seeking. Grok, xAI's answer to ChatGPT, is available only to paying X customers.
What they said: "xAI will continue on this steep trajectory of progress over the coming months, with multiple exciting technology updates and products soon to be announced," xAI said in a blog post.
"The funds from the round 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 primarily focused on the development of advanced AI systems that are truthful, competent, and maximally beneficial for all of humanity. The company’s mission is to understand the true nature of the universe."
The source: xAI
