Elon Musk's venture into the AI realm with xAI, established just last summer, has swiftly gained attention with The Verge reporting a staggering $6 billion funding injection. This substantial influx of capital is earmarked for propelling xAI's inaugural product launches, fortifying its infrastructure, and expediting research and development initiatives for future technologies.
Having co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside current CEO Sam Altman and others, Musk's journey in AI has been eventful. However, differences in strategic vision led to his departure from OpenAI in 2018, sparking his vocal criticism of the company's shift towards closed, proprietary AI models. Fast forward to July last year, and Musk resurfaced in the AI landscape with xAI, aiming to create AI systems characterized by their integrity, capability, and universal benefit.
One of xAI's pioneering offerings is Grok, a more assertive iteration of OpenAI's ChatGPT, currently accessible exclusively to X Premium subscribers. Despite Grok-1's commendable performance surpassing models like Llama-2-70B and GPT-3.5, it still trails behind Anthropic’s Claude3, OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s open-source Llama 3.
The recent funding round attracted investments from prominent entities such as Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Saudi Arabian Prince Al Waleed bin Talal. Initially rumored to seek $1 billion in equity investments, xAI's target surged to $6 billion, a figure initially refuted by Musk.
Developing hardware capable of powering AI at this level of sophistication demands significant resources. Reports indicate that xAI would require an astounding 100,000 of Nvidia’s current H100 chips for a supercomputer to enhance Grok, each carrying a price tag of $30,000 to $40,000.
Musk envisions ambitious plans for these resources, aiming to inaugurate a new data center by fall 2025, heralding a leap forward in xAI's technological prowess.
The ongoing competition for AI supremacy entails substantial financial commitments. Major tech firms have poured billions into AI startups like Anthropic, complementing hefty investments from industry giants like Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta into their AI endeavors.
Microsoft, notably, has struck a multi-billion-dollar partnership with OpenAI, with CEO Sam Altman reportedly eyeing trillions to revolutionize the global chip industry.
While Tesla continues to recruit AI engineers for its self-driving cars, Musk has expressed a preference for not internalizing most AI and robotics capabilities, to maintain focus on external ventures and break free from traditional auto manufacturing constraints.
Tesla's upcoming annual meeting on June 13 will see shareholders vote on reinstating Musk's record-breaking $56 billion pay package, underscoring his substantial influence across various tech domains.
Musk's substantial contributions to AI research over the years culminate in xAI's emergence as a frontrunner in AI innovation. Observing the evolution of these endeavors and discerning which of xAI's contributions will shape AI history promises to be captivating.
