President Donald Trump’s close friend Elon Musk is best known for his innovations and shares for Tesla and SpaceX he invests everywhere. This time, he came up with the xAI which is a new AI model that seemed to acquire social media platform X which was previously known as Twitter.
In a post on X on Friday, Musk said that AI venture xAI has acquired platform X and all-stock transaction values xAI at $80 billion while X at $33 billion. Back in 2022, Musk paid $44 billion for the acquisition of Twitter.
Elon Musk further wrote in the Friday post, “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” and added, “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent.” Critics are saying that this might be the ultimate diplomatic move by Musk to protect the investors who supported him in the purchase of Twitter or X and saved him from losing money.
It goes without saying that both X and xAI are operated privately with the help of some major investors in the industry. These investors are significant resources for Musk to continue with his innovative ventures. He further wrote, “The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge.”
The AI model of xAI has utilized data and insights gained from the social media platform X for training and it has a Chatbot now named Grok which has become a prominent feature on the platform. The founder of PP Foresight, analyst Paolo Pescatore said, “The move appears sensible, considering the current trend of increased investments in AI, data centres, and computing.”
Musk being Musk got locked in a legal battle with Open-AI which he cofounded with CEO Sam Altman back in 2015. However, last year he sued OpenAI and Mr. Altman and claimed that the company is shifting from its original mission. He said that the startup model is changing to a for-profit model which he strictly disagrees with.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI was fixing a deal of $40 billion in funding with the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. The funds are utilized to change its profit model and build contingent plans but the outlet did not reveal anything officially yet. On the other hand, critics are claiming that Musk is suing OpenAI because he is a control freak and he deeply desires to control the agendas of OpenAI for the benefit of his own.
Earlier this year, there was a consortium led by Mr Musk where an unsolicited auction for OpenAI was going on and it took a $97.4 billion takeover bid. However, Mr. Altman clearly rejected the offer because he believes the success of this company in the forefront of the AI era. Perhaps, it is time for Musk to take off from business and participate in Donald Trump’s political agendas.
