Elon Musk’s SpaceX Said to Invest $2 Billion in xAI

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is investing $2 billion in the multibillionaire’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup.

That’s according to a report Saturday (July 13) by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing investors close to xAI and SpaceX. The report also noted that the $2 billion would be close to half of xAI’s recent equity raise. It also marks one of SpaceX’s largest investments in another company, the report added.

As the report noted, Musk has repeatedly turned to his other businesses to support xAI as it competes with OpenAI. Earlier this year he combined the AI company with his social media platform X, a merger valuing the new company at $113 billion.

Musk has also — since stepping away from his White House role — focused on training the newest iteration of xAI’s Grok chatbot. The company rolled out the new Grok this week, with Musk both bragging about the model and worrying over what happens to humanity if the AI turns evil.

“This is the smartest AI in the world,” Musk said. “In some ways, it’s terrifying.”

He compared Grok 4 to a “super-genius child” in which the “right values” of truthfulness and a sense of honor need to be instilled so society can enjoy its advances.

Musk admitted to being “worried,” saying that “it’s somewhat unnerving to have intelligence created that is far greater than our own, and will this be bad or good for humanity?” before concluding that “most likely, it’ll be good.”

The WSJ report noted that SpaceX’s investment in xAI could pose risks for the former company. SpaceX has seen its revenue surge in recent years, but is spending billions to develop an experimental new rocket called Starship. That vehicle is behind schedule and has experienced several setbacks, including a large explosion during an engine test last month.

In other AI news, PYMNTS wrote recently about efforts by chief financial officers to upskill their workforce to ensure their staff can effectively harness the technology.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence found that every CFO surveyed in June said generative AI has increased the need for more analytically skilled workers, up from 60% in March 2024.

“The shift in the past year reflects growing hands-on use and a rising urgency to close capability gaps,” according to the report.

The CFOs also said the overall range of skills required across the business has changed, speaking to a need for people with AI-ready skills: “CFOs increasingly need talent that can evaluate, interpret and act on machine-generated output,” the report said.

The chief financial officer role itself is changing., with 27% of job listings for CFOs now calling for AI expertise.