Elon Musk-led xAI looks to raise $1 billion in equity offering. Details here

livemint.com:

Elon Musk-led artificial intelligence startup xAI is looking to raise $1 billion in funding from equity investors, according to a document filed by the company with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The document also noted that xAI has already raised about $135, without disclosing the names of those investors.

Musk launched xAI in July this year to "understand the true nature of the universe". The artificial intelligence company aims to compete with top players in the industry, including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic.

Last month, Musk announced xAI's first language model, Grok, which is trained on data from X (formerly Twitter) and has real-time access to the social media platform. In a statement accompanying the release of Grok, xAI said: “Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask! Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor!" Grok is currently in development and Musk has announced that X Premium+ subscribers will have the first access to his chatbot once its ready.

The 52-year-old billionaire has taken wild turns in his stance on AI this year, going from criticising existing AI chatbots, particularly OpenAI's ChatGPT, for being "politically correct" and noting that artificial intelligence is "one of the biggest risks to the future of civilisation", to launching his own AI company. It's not Musk's first foray into the AI industry, however, as the billionaire helped co-found OpenAI in 2015.