Elon Musk Claims Tesla Doesn't Need to License xAI Models for Success

Elon Musk has refuted claims that Tesla, one of his flagship companies, is considering a revenue-sharing agreement with xAI, his AI startup, to utilize its advanced models.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, under a potential deal presented to investors, Tesla would integrate xAI’s models into its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. In addition, the collaboration would encompass the development of features like a voice assistant for Tesla vehicles and software for the upcoming humanoid robot, Optimus.

In a post on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk stated that he had not read the Wall Street Journal article but deemed a summarizing post to be “not accurate.” He explained, “Tesla has gained valuable insights from discussions with xAI engineers that have accelerated our pursuit of unsupervised FSD. However, licensing anything from xAI is unnecessary. The xAI models are enormous, containing a compressed version of extensive human knowledge, and couldn't operate on Tesla’s vehicle inference computer, nor would we want them to.”

Musk established xAI as a competitor to OpenAI, which he co-founded but later distanced himself from. Earlier this year, reports indicated that as part of the pitch for xAI’s $6 billion funding round, the startup proposed a vision wherein its models would leverage data from Musk’s various ventures, including Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X, thereby enhancing technology across these firms.

In a related issue, Tesla shareholders have filed a lawsuit against Musk, alleging that he is redirecting talent and resources from Tesla to xAI, which they characterize as a direct competitor.

AI, Elon Musk, Robotics, Startups, Tesla, Transportation, xAI