The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- John Furner
The world’s richest man needs more money.
Tech magnate Elon Musk is looking for $1 billion to help start his new artificial intelligence company, xAI.
The launch of xAI, which will likely be affiliated with Mr. Musk’s social media platform X, is close. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, xAI has raised $135 million of its $1 billion goal.
People can already buy stocks in the company, with the SEC filing confirming that the company has a “binding and enforceable agreement” for the purchase of remaining shares. The first recorded sale of an xAI share was on Nov. 29.
Mr. Musk has had a complicated relationship with AI, saying in one breath that it could bring humanity into a golden era and another that it could destroy human civilization.
It’s unclear what exactly Mr. Musk’s goals are with xAI other than to break into the burgeoning AI industry. Tesla, where Mr. Musk is CEO, has been working on its own AI technology for its electric vehicles. When asked on an earnings call why he would start a new AI company instead of just working with the established team at Tesla, he said it was the only way to get new engineers.
“There were just some of the world’s best AI engineers and scientists that were willing to join a startup, but they were not willing to join a large, sort of relatively established company like Tesla,” he said.
XAI could be another revenue source for X, which is suffering from an exodus of advertisers.
