Musk to Discuss $5B xAI Investment with Tesla Board: On Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced plans to discuss a $5 billion investment in the artificial intelligence startup xAI. This move is part of Tesla’s strategy to accelerate the development of its robotaxi and self-driving technologies.
Tesla’s ambitious self-driving project has encountered significant technical and legal challenges in recent years. To address these hurdles, the automaker is enhancing its AI infrastructure to train models specifically tailored for Tesla’s autonomous technology.
“Looks like the public is in favor. Will discuss with Tesla board,” Musk posted on X, citing a poll on the social media platform where nearly 68% of respondents supported Tesla’s investment in xAI, the developer behind the Grok chatbot.
During Tesla’s earnings conference call earlier this week, Musk emphasized that xAI would be instrumental in advancing full self-driving capabilities and in bolstering the new Tesla data center. He also highlighted potential opportunities to integrate Grok, the developer behind the chatbot, with Tesla’s software.
Tesla’s second-quarter automotive gross margin and profit missed Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, attributed to price cuts and incentives aimed at increasing sales.
Musk, the world’s richest person, launched xAI last year, in a bid to compete with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, its backer Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google.
The startup raised $6 billion in a series B funding in May, fetching a post-money valuation of $24 billion. Its investors include Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.