Tech billionaire Elon Musk has dismissed reports of funding plans worth $500 million for his artificial intelligence startup xAI through posts on social media site from Twitter).
Conflicting reports on funding
Bloomberg previously reported that xAI was in discussions for an evaluation between $15 and $20 billion and that the start-up would have obtained $500 million in commitments from investors, aiming for a total of $1 billion. This was dismissed as fake news by Musk.
Discussions are underway, targeting a tender offer valued at between $500 million and $750 million, sources told the publication, adding that the potential share price could be around $95 each.
Read also | A $60 billion pay package? Musk gives Tesla board a nightmarish task
Although xAI has not released an official statement, Bloomberg cited sources on the ongoing negotiations. The company did not respond to questions, Reuters said.
Also earlier in December, Musk denied raising money for xAI, despite the startup’s filing with the U.S. securities regulator. plans to raise $1 billion via a share offering.
The document also states that xAI has already raised around $135, without disclosing the names of these investors.
Musk launched xAI in July 2023, positioning it as a response to concerns about Big Tech’s AI efforts. Musk has consistently criticized big tech companies for perceived excessive censorship and inadequate security measures in their AI initiatives.
His AI company aims to compete with major players in the industry, including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic. In November, Musk announced xAI’s first language model, Grok, which is trained on X’s data and has real-time access to the social media platform.
(With contributions from Bloomberg and Reuters)
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Published: January 21, 2024, 08:45 IST
