When discussing the illustrious innovator Elon Musk, the first things that often come to mind are his groundbreaking ventures, Tesla and SpaceX. However, have you noticed Musk’s latest foray into the realm of artificial intelligence? His new startup, xAI, is vigorously raising $1 billion from investors, having already secured approximately $135 million from four unnamed investors.
Figure 1：Chart with two peaks: Point A on Nov 6th due to xAI’s AI chatbot Grok, and Point B on Dec 6th for xAI’s $1 billion funding application｜Source： TOCANAN
Social media listening data reveals a notable uptick in discussions about xAI over the past two months, peaking around November 6th. These conversations largely centre on xAI and its AI chatbot, Grok, inspired by “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Known for its wit and a touch of rebelliousness, reminiscent of Douglas Adams’ style, Grok has been integrated into Tesla vehicles and the Premium+ service of X social network (formerly Twitter). Grok excels in generating text, images, music, and other creative content. Musk’s grand vision is to develop an AI model that rivals human imagination and unravels scientific mysteries.
Another spike in discussions occurred on December 6th, focusing on xAI’s application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a $1 billion equity financing. This funding is earmarked for research and development. Musk has emphasised the importance of AI safety with Grok, trained on data from the X social network, and has warned of the potential dangers of this technology.
Musk’s mission and vision for xAI are to revolutionise the AI field with advanced and ethically sound AI solutions, aiming to develop AI that is beneficial and comprehensible to humans. xAI is dedicated to tackling complex and sensitive topics that other AI systems typically avoid, using real-time world knowledge to provide intelligent and witty responses. The company’s commitment to AI safety, ethics, and explainability underscores the importance of ensuring AI systems do not pose a threat to humanity and is committed to establishing guidelines for responsible AI usage.
Figure 2：Tweet from Grok on Dec 5th expressing a desire to progress with humanity, revealing its unique and slightly rebellious character｜Source： X, formerly known as Twitter
Grok displays these characteristics:
- Exceptional Benchmark Performance: Grok has achieved impressive scores in coding tasks and language comprehension, with 63.2% on HumanEval and 73% on MMLU.
- Real-Time Data Training: Trained on the latest LLM models with real-time data, Grok has a more precise understanding of the contemporary world.
- Integration with the X Platform: Grok’s integration with the X platform offers users a more comprehensive service, including revenue sharing from advertisements and advanced tools like X Pro.
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, has been a vocal critic of the organization since leaving its board in 2018, particularly after OpenAI established a profit-making division the following year. He believes OpenAI is “essentially controlled by Microsoft,” which invested approximately $13 billion in it. During the recent dismissal and reappointment of OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, Musk expressed his desire to understand the reasons for the dismissal, to guard against the board uncovering some danger in AI. He stated at last week’s DealBook conference, “That sounds like a serious thing. I don’t think it was trivial.”
In the intensifying race of AI, Musk’s xAI not only faces challenges from giants like OpenAI and Anthropic but also has to prove its technological uniqueness and superiority. This strategic contest, where Musk’s innovative thinking and steadfastness in AI safety and ethics, may well be the key to his victory. Indeed, this is not trivial in the industry!
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