Elon Musk’s xAI nears close of deal valuing the artificial intelligence start-up at US$24 billion
- The start-up, a rival to ChatGPT creator OpenAI, has been marketed to a range of Silicon Valley investors
- In an interview at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, Musk said xAI’s goal is to be ‘as truth-seeking as possible’ and to be ‘the funniest AI’
The company was slated to wrap up a roughly US$6 billion financing earlier this month, but the final close still has not happened in the deal, which has been in motion since last year. Most recently, the company sought as much as US$6.5 billion and is aiming to get closer to that target over the next few weeks, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public.
Musk did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The deal will give xAI a pre-money valuation of US$18 billion, a metric that does not include dollars raised. The Financial Times previously reported some details of the deal.
On Thursday, Musk spoke in a remote interview at the Viva Technology conference in Paris about xAI’s goal of being “as truth-seeking as possible.”