Elon Musk does not talk about a merger of Tesla and xAI, but stated that he plans to hold a shareholder vote on the automaker's investment in the artificial intelligence startup, which is the latest step to deepen integration into his business empire. Reuters writes about this, reports UNN.
Details
Musk made these statements after a Wall Street Journal report on Saturday that SpaceX, Musk's rocket firm, is investing $2 billion in xAI as part of a $5 billion funding round aimed at keeping up with competitors in the capital-intensive artificial intelligence race.
Musk, Tesla, and xAI did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
The billionaire's companies already have close ties. XAI's Grok chatbot is being deployed in the automaker's cars, and Tesla engineers helped Musk after his 2022 acquisition of Twitter, the social media platform now known as X
Responding to a user's post on X asking Tesla investors if they support a merger between the two companies, Musk replied "No" on Monday. On Sunday, he said he would ask Tesla shareholders to vote on whether the automaker could invest in xAI.
If it were up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI a long time ago
Recall
Elon Musk's new version of the Grok chatbot sometimes searches the internet for Musk's position on a certain issue before expressing its opinion. This happens even when Musk is not mentioned in the question, raising concerns about the transparency and objectivity of AI.