Elon Musk popped onto X on Monday to set the record straight: he's not in favor of folding xAI into Tesla (TSLA, Financial), despite a flurry of speculation. A follower asked, and Musk gave a flat ânoâ to merging his AI lab with the electricâcar maker.
Just a day earlier he'd hinted at asking Tesla shareholders to weigh in on whether the company should invest in xAI. It sounded like a trial balloon for deeper ties, but he's clearly keeping his options open.
Rewind to last year and Musk was talking up a potential $5 billion Tesla stake in xAI as a way to âtest the waters.â He stressed afterward that any deal would need signâoff from Tesla's board and a majority of investors.
Then this spring he quietly stitched xAI together with X (formerly Twitter), creating a hybrid socialâmedia and AI outfit. That move supercharged distribution of the Grok chatbot and grabbed headlines.
Today that combined entity carries a roughly $113 billion valuation, proof that Musk can still surprise the market. Even so, he's drawn a firm line: xAI and Tesla will march to their own beats, each chasing its own frontier.
