Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is reportedly gearing up to release a chatbot app as soon as December, aiming to rival OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT. The Wall Street Journal broke the news, suggesting that the app could significantly expand xAI’s reach and bring it directly to consumers for the first time.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left in 2018 due to disagreements, has since taken a competitive stance against the company. He has filed two lawsuits against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging he was misled into co-founding the venture. Through xAI, Musk seems determined to establish a dominant presence in the rapidly evolving AI industry.
Founded last year, xAI has primarily provided AI services to Musk’s other ventures. This includes AI-driven customer support for Starlink and Grok, a chatbot currently exclusive to paid subscribers of X, Musk’s social media platform previously known as Twitter. The upcoming app represents a bold step into the consumer market, signaling xAI’s intent to directly compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Despite being a newer player, xAI’s valuation has skyrocketed to $50 billion, surpassing the $44 billion Musk paid to acquire X. To offset investor losses from the Twitter acquisition, Musk recently allocated 25% of xAI shares to those investors. However, xAI’s financial scale remains smaller than OpenAI’s, valued at $157 billion with projected revenues of $3.7 billion for 2024. In contrast, xAI is on track to exceed $100 million annually.
The chatbot app’s success could redefine xAI’s trajectory and intensify the competition with OpenAI. As the tech world anticipates xAI’s next move, the battle for AI dominance between Musk and OpenAI continues to captivate industry watchers.