xAI Acquires X: The Inside Story of Musk's Latest Business Move
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): In a surprising move on Friday, Elon Musk announced that he had sold the social media platform X to his artificial intelligence company, xAI in a $33 billion all-stock deal. Musk explained in a post on X that the acquisition will "unlock immense potential by blending xAI's advanced AI capabilities with X's massive reach."
Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as an advisor to former US President Donald Trump bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. After taking control he rebranded the platform to X, fired much of its staff and altered policies related to hate speech, misinformation and user verification.
What did Elon Musk say about the X deal?
In his post, Musk detailed the benefits of selling X to xAI: "xAI and X's futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, computing, distribution and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI's advanced AI capability and expertise with X's massive reach," he wrote.
He valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, stating, "The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge."
What is xAI the company that acquired X?
xAI a US-based public-benefit corporation founded by Musk in March 2023 specializes in artificial intelligence. The company's mission is "to understand the true nature of the universe."
Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, xAI marked Musk’s return to the AI sector following his involvement with OpenAI. Launched officially in July 2023 xAI began with a team of 12 including Musk and experts with experience in GPT development and Google DeepMind. Igor Babuschkin, formerly of Google DeepMind joined as Chief Engineer.
According to its website, xAI aims to solve "real problems." The site elaborates, "Our approach to rapid development and iteration allows us to innovate at breakneck speeds. We're not interested in speed for speed's sake—we're here to solve real problems."
In November 2023, Musk introduced xAI's first project, Grok, which was later integrated into X and made available for free to all users. Grok quickly gained popularity, particularly in countries like India.
Who owns xAI?
Musk is the founder and primary owner of xAI which he established in 2023. Both X and xAI are privately owned companies, and details about other potential stakeholders in xAI remain undisclosed.
As this unexpected sale unfolds the tech world is left wondering how this merger will impact both companies and what the future holds for Musk’s vision of combining AI with social media.
