XAI (company) explained

X.AI Corp.
Trade Name:xAI
Type:Private
Industry:Artificial intelligence
Founder:Elon Musk
Products:Grok, PromptIDE[1]
Hq Location City:San Francisco Bay Area, California, U.S.
Num Employees: (2024)[2]

X.AI Corp.,[3] [4] doing business as xAI, is an American startup company working in the area of artificial intelligence (AI). Founded by Elon Musk in March 2023, its stated goal is "to understand the true nature of the universe".

History

In 2015, Musk was the founding co-chairman at the non-profit AI research company OpenAI.[5] [6] He reportedly committed to invest as much as $1 billion in OpenAI,[7] but stepped down from the board in 2018 after an unsuccessful bid to take over its management, the result of a disagreement over AI safety.[8]

xAI was founded by Musk[9] [10] [11] in Nevada on March 9, 2023, and has since been headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.[12] Igor Babuschkin, formerly associated with Google's DeepMind unit, was recruited by Musk to be Chief Engineer.[13]

Musk officially announced the formation of xAI on July 12, 2023.[14] [15] He linked the date (7 + 12 + 23 = 42) to the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams,[16] in which a supercomputer calculates that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is 42; and to the company's mission "to understand the universe".[17] [18]

In December 2023, in a U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, xAI revealed that it had raised US$134.7 million in outside funding out of a total of up to $1 billion.[19] [20] Despite the filing, Musk later claimed via X that xAI was not seeking any funding.[21]

In May 2024, xAI was reported to be looking for $6 billion of funding.[22] Later that same month, the company secured the support of various venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Tribe Capital.[23] [24]

In May 2024, Musk predicted that AI will make most jobs obsolete, requiring a high universal income.[25]

In June 2024, The Greater Memphis Chamber announced xAI is planning on building the world's largest supercomputer in Memphis, TN.[26] The supercomputer is planned to be the most advanced AI model when it becomes fully operational in December 2024. Local government in Memphis has voiced concerns regarding the increased usage of electricity, 150 megawatts of power at peak, and while the agreement with the city is being worked out, the company has deployed 14 VoltaGrid gas generators to temporarily enhance the power supply.[27]

Musk diverted a large number of Nvidia chips which had been ordered by Tesla, Inc. to Twitter and xAI.[28]

Products

While xAI's stated goal is "to understand the true nature of the universe", one of its immediate objectives is to create an AI that is capable of advanced mathematical reasoning, something not found in current models.[29]

On November 4, 2023, xAI unveiled Grok, an AI chatbot that is integrated with X. xAI stated that when the bot is out of beta, it will only be available to X's Premium+ subscribers.[30] [31]

On November 6, 2023, xAI released PromptIDE, an integrated development environment designed for prompt engineering and interpretability research, offering tools like a Python code editor and rich analytics to empower users in exploring and refining prompts for large language models like Grok-1.[32] [33] [34]

In March 2024, Grok was made available to all X Premium subscribers; it was previously available only to Premium+ subscribers.[35] [36]

In March 2024, xAI released Grok-1 as open source.[37] [38]

On March 29, 2024, Grok-1.5 was announced, with "improved reasoning capabilities" and a context length of 128,000 tokens.[39]

On April 12, 2024, Grok-1.5 Vision (Grok-1.5V) was announced. Grok-1.5V is able to process a wide variety of visual information, including documents, diagrams, graphs, screenshots, and photographs.[40] [41]

In August 2024, Grok-2 was made available to X Premium subscribers.[42] It is the first Grok model with image generation capabilities.[43]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: PromptIDE . 2023-11-11 . x.ai . en . November 15, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231115003427/https://x.ai/prompt-ide/ . live .
  2. Web site: Mathews . Jessica . One of the original employees at Elon Musk’s xAI has left and returned to OpenAI . Fortune . 28 June 2024 . https://archive.today/20240628195535/https://fortune.com/2024/06/28/xai-original-employee-departure-kyle-kosic-engineer/ . 28 June 2024 . live.
  3. Web site: X.AI Corp. . 2023-07-27 . . August 5, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230805051958/https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_nv/E28915122023-8 . live .
  4. Web site: Privacy policy . 2023-11-07 . x.ai . en . November 19, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231119055936/https://x.ai/legal/privacy-policy/ . live .
  5. News: Jin . Berber . Hagey . Keach . Seetharaman . Deepa . March 6, 2024 . How the Bromance Between Elon Musk and Sam Altman Turned Toxic . . subscription . https://archive.today/20240307010032/https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/elon-musk-sam-altman-openai-lawsuit-8e6f1897 . March 7, 2024 . live.
  6. Web site: Eadicicco . Lisa . June 12, 2020 . The artificial intelligence company that Elon Musk helped found is now selling the text-generation software it previously said was too dangerous to launch . . https://web.archive.org/web/20231130110811/https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-openai-sell-text-tool-it-said-was-dangerous-2020-6 . November 30, 2023 . live.
  7. Web site: Goswami . Rohan . 2023-05-16 . Elon Musk claims he's the reason ChatGPT-owner OpenAI exists . 2023-10-24 . CNBC . en . November 3, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231103164957/https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/16/elon-musk-says-hes-the-reason-chatgpt-owner-openai-exists.html . live .
  8. Web site: Stokel-Walker . Chris . July 13, 2023 . What is xAI, Elon Musk's new AI company, and will it succeed? . . July 19, 2023 . September 22, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230922203809/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2382426-what-is-xai-elon-musks-new-ai-company-and-will-it-succeed/ . live .
  9. Web site: July 12, 2023 . Elon Musk launches xAI in challenge to dominance of ChatGPT owner . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230712183908/https://www.ft.com/content/19cce4b5-b2dd-4c1e-a109-b500e504dbb6 . July 12, 2023 . July 12, 2023 . The Financial Times.
  10. Bhattacharya . Suryathapa . July 12, 2023 . Elon Musk Launches xAI, His New Artificial-Intelligence Company . live . . https://web.archive.org/web/20230712195955/https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-xai-artificial-intelligence-company-openai-chatgpt-4a6f178a . July 12, 2023 . July 12, 2023.
  11. Web site: Markman . Jon . Elon Musk Unveils X.ai: A Game-Changer For Investors . 2023-10-24 . Forbes . en . October 18, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231018101350/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2023/10/12/elon-musk-unveils-xai-a-game-changer-for-investors/ . live .
  12. Web site: Anirban Ghoshal . July 13, 2023 . Elon Musk launches xAI to take on ChatGPT-maker OpenAI . July 14, 2023 . Computer World . July 18, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230718163752/https://www.computerworld.com/article/3702708/elon-musk-launches-xai-to-take-on-chatgpt-maker-openai.html . live .
  13. Book: Elon Musk . 28 November 2023 . 978-1-9821-8128-4 . Isaacson . Walter . September 12, 2023 . Walter Isaacson . Simon & Schuster . 605–606 . November 26, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231126180200/https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Elon-Musk/Walter-Isaacson/9781982181284 . live .
  14. News: Vynck . Gerrit De . 2023-07-15 . Musk's new AI company, xAI, will aim to solve scientific mysteries . en-US . Washington Post . 2023-07-17 . 0190-8286 . July 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230717133426/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/14/xai-elon-musk-ai-company/ . live .
  15. News: Mark . Charles . Openaiinsiders . 29 November 2023.
  16. Web site: Gairola . Ananya . How Elon Musk's xAI Launch Date Pays Tribute To Douglas Adam's 'Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' . 2023-09-09 . Benzinga . English . September 23, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230923071356/https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/07/33209373/how-elon-musks-xai-launch-date-pays-tribute-to-douglas-adams-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy . live .
  17. 1679182035645235200. elonmusk. And what are the most fundamental unknown questions?. Elon. Musk. September 1, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230806114552/https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1679182035645235200?s=46. 6 August 2023.
  18. Web site: xAI: Understand the Universe . https://web.archive.org/web/20230803163337/https://x.ai/ . 2023-08-03 . 2023-08-03 . x.ai . en.
  19. News: Silberling . Amanda . Elon Musk is looking to raise $1 billion for xAI . 6 December 2023 . December 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231206102200/https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/05/elon-musk-raise-1-billion-xai/ . live .
  20. https://www.axios.com/2023/12/06/elon-musk-twitter-x-ai-funding
  21. https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-says-his-ai-firm-xai-is-not-raising-funds-right-now-2023-12-06/
  22. News: May 18, 2024 . Elon's AI venture being sold as part of a "Muskonomy" . Axios.
  23. Web site: Elon Musk’s xAI secures new backing from Andreessen, Lightspeed, Sequoia and Tribe . 2024-05-24 . Financial Times.
  24. News: May 23, 2024 . Musk's xAI seeking to raise $6 bln in Andreessen Horowitz-backed funding, FT reports . Reuters.
  25. News: Tomchak . David . 30 May 2024 . Elon Musk: Tesla CEO warns of the risks of AI to our jobs—while raising $6bn for xAI . https://web.archive.org/web/20240530121236/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/tech/elon-musk-tesla-ai-risks-jobs-xai-b1160911.html . 30 May 2024 . 30 May 2024.
  26. Web site: Musk to Locate xAI Supercomputer in Memphis . 2024-06-06 . MemphisFlyer.
  27. Web site: Edwards . Benj . 2024-07-24 . Elon Musk claims he is training “the world’s most powerful AI by every metric” . 2024-07-25 . Ars Technica . en-us.
  28. Web site: Kolodny . Lora . Elon Musk ordered Nvidia to ship thousands of AI chips reserved for Tesla to X and xAI . cnbc.com . CNBC . 10 August 2024.
  29. News: Schreckinger . Ben . July 17, 2023 . Elon Musk's liberal-trolling AI plan has a core audience . . July 19, 2023 . October 11, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231011211915/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/17/ai-musk-chatgpt-xai-00106672 . live .
  30. Web site: Neowin . Paul Hill . 2023-11-04 . Elon Musk gives a glimpse at xAI's Grok chatbot . 2023-11-04 . Neowin . en . November 4, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231104083748/https://www.neowin.net/news/elon-musk-gives-a-glimpse-at-xais-grok-chatbot/ . live .
  31. Web site: Elon Musk Says His New AI Bot 'Grok' Will Have Sarcasm and Access to X Information . Wall Street Journal . 4 November 2023 . 4 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231104171521/https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/elon-musk-says-his-new-ai-bot-grok-will-have-sarcasm-and-access-to-x-information-b4e169de . live .
  32. Web site: Announcing PromptIDE . 2024-08-20 . x.ai . en.
  33. Web site: 2023-11-07 . xAI Launches PromptIDE for Advanced AI Prompt Engineering with Grok . 2024-08-20 . Maginative . en.
  34. Web site: Razzaq . Asif . 2023-11-06 . xAI Launches PromptIDE: A New Frontier in Prompt Engineering and Artificial Intelligence AI Transparency . 2024-08-20 . MarkTechPost . en-US.
  35. Web site: Elon Musk Makes Grok AI Available to All Paying X Subscribers: What to Know . 2024-08-20 . CNET . en.
  36. Web site: Mehta . Ivan . 2024-04-06 . X makes Grok chatbot available to premium subscribers . 2024-08-20 . TechCrunch . en-US.
  37. News: Elon Musk’s Grok-1 goes open-source: What it means for users . 2024-08-20 . The Times of India . 0971-8257.
  38. Web site: David . Emilia . 2024-03-18 . xAI open sources Grok . 2024-08-20 . The Verge . en.
  39. Web site: Announcing Grok-1.5 . 2024-08-20 . x.ai . en.
  40. Web site: Grok-1.5 Vision Preview . 2024-08-20 . x.ai . en.
  41. Web site: Grok-1.5 Vision: First Multimodal Model from Elon Musk’s xAI . 2024-08-20 . encord.com . en-GB.
  42. Web site: Mehta . Ivan . 2024-08-14 . xAI releases Grok-2, adds image generation on X . 2024-08-20 . TechCrunch . en-US.
  43. Web site: Weatherbed . Jess . 2024-08-14 . xAI’s new Grok-2 chatbots bring AI image generation to X . 2024-08-20 . The Verge . en.

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