Musk will be at Cannes Lions this week aiming to reassure advertising groups and global brands about X’s future.
Mark Piasecki | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a private poll on the social network X, asking whether the publicly traded automaker should invest $5 billion in his latest startup, xAI.
Specifically, he asked: “Should Tesla invest $5 billion in @xAI, assuming the valuation is set by multiple credible outside investors? (This is a wait-and-see move, as it requires board approval and a shareholder vote).”
The billionaire CEO, who simultaneously runs Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, X Corp and now xAI, shared the poll shortly after the conclusion of Tesla’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday night.
Tesla reported second-quarter profit that fell short of analysts’ expectations for the fourth straight quarter and revenue from its core auto division also fell. But the company saw a surge in energy storage sales and investors focused on a future full of robotaxis and humanoid robots currently in development.
Tesla shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading following the company’s second-quarter earnings report.
Musk’s companies frequently collaborate and pay each other, but not in the billions of dollars. For example, SpaceX bought an ad campaign on Twitter (formerly Twitter) to promote its Starlink satellite internet service, as CNBC previously reported. And The Boring Company tunnel At Tesla’s Texas factory.
During the earnings call on Tuesday, a shareholder asked Musk whether there was a chance that Tesla would invest in xAI and integrate the company’s software, called Grok, into its vehicles.
Musk responded, “Tesla is learning a lot from xAI, which is really helping advance self-driving cars and building new Tesla data centers. I think we’ll need shareholder approval for our investment in xAI, but if our shareholders approve it, I’d certainly be supportive.”
The $5 billion figure didn’t come out until Musk posted the poll after the conference call.
He did not elaborate on how Glock is “advancing” its driving technology.
Founded in March last year and first publicly discussed by Musk in July 2023, xAI is developing large-scale language models and AI software products, aiming to compete with products from the likes of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Meta.
AI chatbots can be used to generate lists of action items based on story ideas, transcripts, and meeting notes, write or edit code for computer programmers, and translate ideas from English to another language.
XAI’s first product, Grok, is a far cry from the capabilities offered by today’s leading chatbots, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Bing, and Anthropic’s Claude. Musk touts Grok as a politically incorrect, resourceful alternative to these existing products.
Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for more information Tuesday, including why the CEO initially chose not to cultivate xAI at Tesla.
xAI previously raised $6 billion in a Series B round, giving it a post-money valuation of $24 billion, according to a May 27 blog post from the company.
