Elon Musk has denied a report that artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI agreed to part of Tesla’s future earnings in exchange for access to Musk’s technology and resources at the electric car maker.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Tesla will license xAI’s artificial intelligence models, driver assistance software and full self-driving technology and share a portion of those revenues with the startup under a deal disclosed to investors.
“Tesla learned a lot from discussions with xAI engineers, who helped accelerate the implementation of automatic FSD without having to license anything from xAI,” Musk wrote on X’s social media page late Saturday.
Citing unnamed people, the magazine said that xAI will develop additional features for Tesla, including the voice assistant for electric vehicles and the software that controls Optimus’ humanoid robot.
According to the report, the terms of the revenue-sharing agreement between xAI and Tesla depend on Tesla’s reliance on xAI’s technology versus its own, and xAI executives are negotiating an equal revenue share from Tesla’s FSD.
xAI could not be reached for comment.
Musk launched xAI last year to compete with Microsoft-backed OpenAI. This raises concerns that the automaker could hand over some of its resources to an AI firm.
He said xAI could help “enhance fully autonomous driving and build Tesla’s new data center,” adding that there was the possibility of integrating xAI’s chatbot, Grok, into Tesla’s software.
In July, the billionaire CEO said he was in talks with the Tesla team to invest $5 billion (about ₹41,979 billion) in xAI.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
