Musk will attend Cannes Lions this week to reassure ad groups and global brands about X’s future.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted an informal poll on social network X asking whether his publicly traded automaker should invest $5 billion in his new startup, xAI.
Specifically, he asked: “Should Tesla invest $5 billion in @xAI, assuming the valuation is determined by multiple credible outside investors? (requires board approval and shareholder vote, so this is just to test the waters)”
The billionaire CEO — who simultaneously runs Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, X Corp. and now xAI — shared the poll shortly after Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call concluded Tuesday night.
Tesla reported second-quarter earnings that fell short of analysts’ expectations for a fourth straight quarter and lower revenue in its core auto division. However, the company has seen its energy storage sales soar and has focused investors’ attention on a future filled with robotics and humanoid robots now in development.
Tesla shares fell more than 7% after hours after the company’s second quarter update.
Musk’s companies often collaborate and pay each other, but not to the tune of billions of dollars. For example, as CNBC has previously reported, SpaceX bought advertising campaigns to promote its Starlink Internet satellite services on X (formerly Twitter). And The Boring Company builds tunnels at the Tesla factory in Texas.
During Tuesday’s earnings call, shareholders asked Musk whether Tesla could invest in xAI and integrate xAI’s software, called Grok, into its vehicles.
Musk responded, “Tesla is learning a lot from xAI. It was really helpful in pushing Full Self-Driving and building the new Tesla data center. In terms of investing in xAI, I think we should have a shareholder approve such an investment.” , but I certainly support it, if the shareholders do it.”
The $5 billion number didn’t come until Musk released the poll after the call.
He did not elaborate on the ways in which Grok was “advancing” the company’s ride technology.
Created in March last year and first discussed publicly by Musk in July 2023, xAI develops large language models and artificial intelligence software products aimed at competing with offerings from Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta and others .
AI chatbots can be used to generate story ideas, transcripts, to-do lists based on meeting notes, to generate or edit code for computer programmers, or to translate ideas from English to another language, for example.
XAI’s first product, Grok, is far from providing the utility of leading chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Bing, and Anthropic’s Claude. Musk has pitched Grok as a politically incorrect and witty alternative to those existing offerings.
Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for more information on Tuesday, including why the CEO did not choose to incubate xAI at Tesla in the first place.
Previously, xAI raised a $6 billion Series B funding round and achieved a $24 billion post-money valuation, according to a May 27 company blog post.
