Elon Musk Shoots Down Reports About xAI Raising Capital: 'I Have Had No Conversations'

Elon Musk on Friday clarified that his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is not raising capital at this moment. Musk's denial comes after a media report claimed that xAI is looking to raise up to $6 billion.

What Happened: A previous report by the Financial Times claimed that xAI is seeking fundraising at a valuation of up to $20 billion.

Musk has flat-out denied it, saying he has not talked to anyone about it.

"xAI is not raising capital and I have had no conversations with anyone in this regard."

Musk has previously denied reports about xAI fundraising – in fact, this is his third denial in just two months.

Musk is reportedly looking at global investors to fund xAI – this includes sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and family offices in Hong Kong. Talal is also an investor in X and was a part of Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the social media company.

Why It Matters: Musk, who is one of the co-founders of OpenAI, founded xAI in early 2023. Although Musk joined the OpenAI board in 2015, he stepped down in 2018 and has since been vocal about AI safety concerns.

One of the first launches by xAI is the AI-powered chatbot, Grok, which takes on OpenAI's ChatGPT and Alphabet Inc.'s Google Bard.

Although Grok's capabilities are not as impressive as those of competitors, Musk's chatbot has the advantage of being fed real-time data from X. It also has a slightly quirkier personality than other mainstream chatbots, helping it stand out.

Grok is still locked behind a paywall currently – it is available only to X Premium+ subscribers, which costs $16 per month or $168 per year.

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