Elon Musk’s new startup xAI seeks to raise $6 billion to challenge OpenAI

With several investors handing sizable checks to startups to profit from what has attracted Silicon Valley’s attention in the past year — the race to create more and better AI has been escalating. Today, the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk‘s “artificial intelligence start-up xAI is in talks to raise up to $6 billion.” The start-up is seeking money from wealthy holding funds in the Middle East and has held discussions with family offices in Hong Kong, according to a story opens new tab that cited several people with knowledge of the situation. For the newest fundraising effort, Musk has also reached out to investors in South Korea and Japan, though his office did not respond to a request for comment.

Elon Musk has never made any secret about his plans to build a safer AI. xAI made headlines last year when “Grok,” a chatbot positioned as an adversary to OpenAI‘s ChatGPT, was introduced. Musk has frequently underlined the importance of developing AI responsibly. He most recently issued a warning against developing robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) outside of Tesla until he acquires more influence over the company’s decisions. Musk voiced concern about leading Tesla into artificial intelligence without obtaining 25% of the vote.

As a back story — OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, was founded and established in 2015 in San Francisco by Elon Musk (Tesla, X, xAI), Llya Sutskever, Wojciech Azremba, Greg Brockman, and current CEO of ChatGPT, Sam Altman. Musk left OpenAI in 2018, citing a conflict of interest with the AI in his Tesla business. In July 2023, Musk said that xAI would seek to “understand the true nature of the universe.” Since leaving OpenAI, Musk has continually given speeches and advocated for cautions in AI innovation.

Startups have been in a subdued market for some time, but thanks to AI with it’s industry bright spots such as ChatGPT and the lot — many startups in this arena are enjoying a great funding environment.

Deanna Ritchie

Managing Editor at ReadWrite

Deanna is the Managing Editor at ReadWrite. Previously she worked as the Editor in Chief for Startup Grind and has over 20+ years of experience in content management and content development.