Musk’s $6B xAI milestone

Back in April, Musk denied rumors that his AI start-up–xAI (which powers AI chatbot, Grok) was raising $6B in funding, but has now confirmed that he has secured the funds, taking the company's valuation (post-funding) to $24B.

Who is investing in xAI?

Several of Musk’s investors are either close friends of Musk’s or have previously invested in his other ventures, including Tesla and X (previously known as Twitter). The biggest investors include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Sequoia Capital, Saudi Arabian Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, and Ken Howery, cofounder of PayPal and Founders Fund.

What will Musk use this funding for?

Musk has stated that the $6B will help bring xAI’s “products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development of future technologies”: An undoubtedly strategic move to beat rivals OpeanAI–who he has recently sued for betraying its original mission to create AI for the benefit of humanity–and Google–who he has accused of adding bias to its AI models.

He also established that the funding will help xAI focus on developing “truthful” AI models, claiming the company has a mission to:

“Understand the universe, which requires the maximally rigorous pursuit of the truth, without regard to popularity or political correctness”.

This comes after increasing reports that Grok’s news summary is capable of generating misleading information.