X.AI, a startup in the field of artificial intelligence, founded by Elon Musk, has filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an equity offering.
According to the filing, the company has already secured nearly $135 million in funding from four investors, with the first sale taking place on November 29th. X.AI also holds a “binding and enforceable agreement” for the purchase of the remaining shares.
This AI startup, which Musk unveiled in July, has a mission to “uncover the true essence of the universe,” as stated on its website. In the previous month, X.AI introduced Grok, a chatbot inspired by “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Grok underwent two months of training and boasts real-time internet knowledge, as per the company’s claims.
X.AI humorously describes Grok as a chatbot with a dash of wit and a touch of rebellion, suggesting that users who dislike humor should steer clear. Furthermore, the chatbot is designed to tackle provocative questions that most other AI systems tend to shy away from.
The company did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
With Grok, X.AI is aiming to compete directly with companies like OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, which Elon Musk was involved with until his departure in 2018 due to a conflict with co-founder Sam Altman. X.AI will also face competition from Google’s Bard technology and Anthropic’s Claude chatbot.
Earlier in the year, Musk reportedly secured a substantial number of high-powered graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia, which are essential for building large language models.
X.AI is one among the many companies that Musk either owns or leads. In addition to his involvement with X (formerly Twitter), which he acquired last year, Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. He also oversees the Boring Company, a tunnel development venture, and Neuralink, a brain-tech startup.
Musk has previously mentioned that investors in X (formerly Twitter) would have a 25% stake in X.AI. The company states on its website that it is a separate entity from X Corp (Twitter) but will collaborate closely with X, Tesla, and other organizations to advance its mission.
The team at X.AI includes professionals with backgrounds at esteemed organizations like DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Twitter, and Tesla. Their experience encompasses projects such as DeepMind’s AlphaCode and OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 chatbots, as indicated by their LinkedIn profiles.
X.AI was incorporated in Nevada in March, as per official filings.
During a Tesla earnings call in July, Musk explained his motivation for launching X.AI, highlighting that some of the world’s top AI engineers and scientists were more inclined to join a startup rather than a well-established company like Tesla.
Regarding X.AI’s financing, the initial sale coincided with Musk’s appearance at the 2023 DealBook Summit, during which he made controversial remarks to advertisers who had suspended campaigns on X, leading to criticism and boycotts by dozens of advertisers.