Elon Musk has recently refuted claims made in a report that Tesla, one of his companies, has been in talks with another one of his companies, xAI, about sharing revenue. The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla was considering using xAI’s AI models in its driver-assistance software and collaborating on other projects such as a voice assistant in Tesla vehicles and software for a humanoid robot named Optimus. However, Musk took to his social media platform to dispute the accuracy of the report.
In his response, Musk mentioned that while Tesla has benefited from discussions with engineers at xAI in accelerating the development of unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, there is no intention to license anything from the startup. He emphasized that the size and complexity of xAI’s models make it impractical for them to run on Tesla’s vehicle inference computer. Furthermore, Musk expressed that the exchange of knowledge between Tesla and xAI has been valuable, but there is no formal agreement in place for revenue sharing.
Founded by Musk as a competitor to OpenAI, xAI has outlined an ambitious vision where its AI models would be trained on data from Musk’s various companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X. The startup aims to leverage this unique dataset to enhance technology and innovation across all of Musk’s ventures. However, this approach has faced criticism from Tesla shareholders who believe that xAI’s establishment has diverted attention and resources away from Tesla to a rival entity.
The decision to launch xAI has not been without its share of legal disputes, with Tesla shareholders filing lawsuits against Musk over allegations of prioritizing xAI over Tesla’s best interests. Critics argue that the competition between Tesla and xAI could potentially hinder Tesla’s progress and success in the AI and technology sectors. Despite Musk’s reassurances about the collaborative nature of the relationship between the two companies, concerns persist about the implications of such a dynamic on both entities.
While Elon Musk has denied the existence of a formal revenue sharing agreement between Tesla and xAI, the controversy surrounding their relationship underscores the challenges of managing multiple ventures within Musk’s expansive portfolio. The intersection of AI, technology, and corporate competition continues to be a focal point for scrutiny and debate within the tech industry.
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