Key Takeaways:
Elon Musk has publicly refuted the claims made by a recent Wall Street Journal report, which suggested that Tesla and his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, were discussing a potential licensing deal.
The report indicated that Tesla might license xAI’s AI models to develop technologies such as Full Self-Driving (FSD). In return, xAI would receive a portion of the revenue generated by Tesla’s FSD technology.
Musk responded to these claims in a post on X, where he noted that he had not fully read the Wall Street Journal report but found the overall assertions to be inaccurate.
Haven’t read the article, but the above is not accurate.
Tesla has learned a lot from discussions with engineers at xAI that have helped accelerate achieving unsupervised FSD, but there is no need to license anything from xAI.
The xAI models are gigantic, containing, in…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 8, 2024
However, Musk has denied the necessity of such a deal, stating that Tesla has no need to license any AI technology from xAI.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the proposed agreement between Tesla and xAI had been presented to investors, suggesting that Tesla would use xAI’s artificial intelligence models to enhance its FSD software and share the resulting revenue with xAI.
If the CEO of the company you invested in can’t talk about their business like @elonmusk can about Tesla or X or SpaceX, sell your position and invest in TSLA.
— MyTesla (@SAbethankful) September 8, 2024
Additionally, the report claimed that xAI would work on other features for Tesla vehicles, including a Siri-like voice assistant and software to power Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot.
While he acknowledged that Tesla had benefited from discussions with xAI’s engineers, he emphasized that Tesla did not need to license any technology from the AI startup.
Reporting to owners that it is garbage night because Tesla knows on Wednesdays everyone puts their cans out doesn’t take much data at all, though.
— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) September 8, 2024
Musk further elaborated on the differences between the AI models developed by xAI and those used by Tesla. He explained that xAI’s models are “gigantic” and contain, in compressed form, a vast amount of human knowledge, making them unsuitable for Tesla’s electric vehicles.
Tesla’s AI models, on the other hand, are characterized by their “incredibly dense intelligence,” specifically designed to process real-world driving scenarios.
This is fantastic detail. Thank you. I don’t suppose we might get another AI day or something similar to get more specifics on how things with FSD and Optimus are progressing? Probably not before the robotaxi reveal but sometime 😁
Thanks. And thanks for keeping us informed! 🙏— DrKnowItAll (@DrKnowItAll16) September 8, 2024
These models operate on a relatively low-power computing system—approximately 300W—with memory size and bandwidth significantly lower than high-performance GPUs like the H100.
Musk stressed that the AI developed by Tesla focuses on real-world applications, such as Full Self-Driving, which translates video data into driving commands.
Makes sense tesla’s AI is designed to operate efficiently on their hardware with specific constraints, like processing large amounts of video data into real-time driving commands, while staying lightweight. They don’t need xAI’s massive models, since their focus is entirely…
— Cry🅿️to_Los (@cryptlos_dc) September 8, 2024
This process requires a large context size, much greater than that of a large language model (LLM), as it involves several gigabytes of video data from multiple cameras.
He reiterated that Tesla’s AI technology is highly specialized and fundamentally different from the broader AI models developed by xAI.
“helped accelerate achieving unsupervised FSD”
Unsupervised 👀— Elie Messo (@ElieMesso) September 8, 2024
Furthermore, discussions about a potential collaboration between xAI and Tesla have caused concern among Tesla’s investors, who fear that resources may be diverted from Tesla’s core operations.
Several investors have filed lawsuits, alleging that any reallocation of resources to xAI could harm Tesla’s business and shareholders’ interests.
Why don’t they just go directly to the source and report on same? No wonder Legacy media is dying …
— Brian Basson (@BassonBrain) September 8, 2024
Despite these concerns, Musk continues to emphasize the autonomy and distinct AI strategies of both companies, underscoring that no licensing agreement is necessary or currently in place.
Meanwhile, xAI is pursuing its growth ambitions, having recently raised $6 billion from high-profile investors and launched a new supercomputer called Colossus to train its large language model, Grok.
I think the funniest thing to happen would be this.
Elon launches his super AI, asks the AI for advice, plans going forward.
AI having become self aware asks what salary/ benefits are being offered.— Judith (@ramblingrannz) September 8, 2024
This positioning aims to challenge other major players in the AI space, such as OpenAI.
Musk has also suggested potential synergies between his companies, including a possible $5 billion investment from Tesla into xAI, which he mentioned during an earnings call in July.
This clarification is much appreciated 👍🏽
— CyberRob (@TrafalgarL4wyer) September 8, 2024
Despite Musk’s denial of the Wall Street Journal’s report, the discussions have sparked debate and scrutiny from both the public and private sectors.
Insane progress. Do you see the future where Tesla acquires xAI?
— wiggle (@w1991e) September 8, 2024
Overall, the controversy highlights the challenges and complexities of managing multiple high-profile companies, particularly when they are closely interlinked and share common leadership.
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