Can Elon Musk’s xAI take on OpenAI?

Every day seems to bring fresh bets on artificial intelligence (AI). In the past few weeks CoreWeave, an AI cloud-computing company, and H, a French AI startup, have raised hefty sums of money. On May 26th it was Elon Musk’s turn. The tech billionaire’s startup, christened xAI, said it had raised $6bn at a valuation of $24bn. Investors include Silicon Valley stalwarts such as Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, two venture-capital (VC) giants, and an investment fund with ties to the Saudi royal family. Their backing puts xAI’s firepower in the big leagues, alongside model-builders such as OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Anthropic (see chart). Can Mr Musk compete with the AI superstars?

This is not his first foray into AI. Mr Musk co-founded OpenAI, then left after falling out with Sam Altman, its boss. In April he told investors that Tesla, his electric-vehicle maker, should be viewed as an AI firm. Never one for modest ambitions, Mr Musk wants his latest venture, which he launched last July, to “advance our collective understanding of the universe”.