CSAM Generator xAI, Run by Elon Musk, Raises $20 Billion ⇥ nytimes.com

Kate Conger, New York Times:

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, said on Tuesday that it had raised $20 billion from investors to fund its expansion in the race to train the most intelligent chatbot.

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Investors in xAI’s latest funding included Fidelity, the Qatar Investment Authority and Valor Equity Partners, a firm led by Mr. Musk’s friend and former Tesla board member Antonio Gracias. Nvidia, the maker of A.I. chips, also participated. In total, xAI has raised more than $42 billion, according to PitchBook.

Twenty billion dollars is a ghastly sum of money to give anyone, let alone someone who, in his official capacity, cut funding and killed over half a million people. This feels less like an investment for direct financial gain, and more like a way for a select group of people to find influence through a company connected to a transparently corrupt government.

If you are wondering about the timing — immediately after a wave of coverage about xAI’s Grok generating a flurry of abusive and heinous imagery — it turns out this is not the first time Grok’s output has not affected major investment news. In July, shortly after Grok began parroting praise of Adolf Hitler, the U.S. government’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office announced xAI would be one of several A.I. companies receiving up to $200 million. As of today, Grok’s stream of replies on X are still full of it generating sexualized images of real women, mostly without their consent. People with lots of money seem to think all of this is completely fine.