Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
Updated on December 6, 2023, at 3:16 p.m. ET: Elon Musk tweeted that xAI is not currently raising money. The rest of this article remains as originally written.
The push to advance artificial intelligence has hit a new milestone with xAI filing with the SEC to raise $1 billion. The AI startup, headed up by X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk, has already raised over $100 million from four investors.
On December 5, 2023, CNBC reported that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has filed with the SEC to raise $1 billion in an equity offering. Hayden Field goes on to note that the startup has already secured $135 million from four investors with the first sale taking place on November 29, 2023.
It was just in July 2023 that Musk launched xAI with the goal to “understand reality” with Musk referring to Douglas Adams by asking, “What are the most fundamental unknown questions?” Since then, the startup launched Grok, an AI chatbot which the xAI website states is modelled after Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Part of the goal here is for the AI to not only answer questions, but suggest the questions humanity should be asking.
In March 2023 at the Tesla Investor Day, Elon Musk offered his thoughts on the rise of AI. The Tesla CEO went on to say that it is “dangerous technology” with the need for regulatory oversight. Whether he sticks to this position now that he’s got his own artificial intelligence company remains to be seen.
In terms of regulatory oversight, the Biden Administration signed an executive order for new AI safety standards. These standards aim to keep citizens safe from the development of AI, with developers needing to share their safety results with the U.S. government and to develop tools to ensure AI is secure and trustworthy. Not everyone is happy with these regulations, with Del Complex looking to create floating sovereign nation states to avoid the red tape.
In adjacent news, OpenAI went through an upheaval as the board of directors ousted Sam Altman as CEO. Employees then called for the board’s resignation for this decision followed by Altman being returned as CEO of the company.
Be sure to keep it locked to Shacknews as we bring you the latest on Elon Musk, xAI, and X.