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SpaceX commits $2 billion to xAI as Musk steps up AI ambitions: Report
The investment follows xAI's merger with X and values the combined company at $113 billion, with the Grok chatbot now powering Starlink support and eyed for future integration into Tesla's Optimus robots, the report added.
Despite recent controversies involving Grok's responses, Musk has called it "the smartest AI in the world," and xAI continues to spend heavily on model training and infrastructure. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Mint
4 hours ago
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Sorry, Elon. There's Already a Third Party, and It's Called MAGA
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In 2024, 1.85% of voters backed a candidate not named Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. A group called No Labels tried and failed to identify a credible White House candidate in 2024. Typically, third party candidates have only acted as spoilers; see Ross Perot in 1992, Ralph Nader in 2000 and Jill Stein in 2016. Part of the problem is the very high structural hurdles the two existing parties have put in place to keep rival parties from forming. There is also this to consider: A third party kind of already exists. It's called the Republican Party under Trump, otherwise known as MAGA. Rather than run on a third party line, as he explored doing in 2000 with Perot's Reform Party, Trump rode populist discontent to power within an existing political party. He hijacked the GOP and remade it in his own image with ideas from both parties. He is pro-union, more isolationist than hawk, and against free trade. And he doesn't care about the debt and deficits — he agrees with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren that the debt ceiling 'should be thrown out entirely.' As one headline from Reason Magazine put it, 'Donald Trump Sounds Like a Democrat From the 1980s.' Musk, with his billions and his influence, might be better off bankrolling candidates within the two-party system who offer a similar ideological blend. But for now, he seems set on doing what others before him have tried and failed to do. So let's take him at his word and assume that the world's richest man will show some focus and play in the 2026 midterms via a third party. 'One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,' he posted. 'Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people.' His strategy actually isn't a bad one and aligns with what some other groups are doing. 'Elon, I don't know what he is going to do, but I believe some of these candidates he would want to give some cash to,' said Adam Brandon, senior advisor to The Independent Center, a group that will back a handful of independent candidates in the midterms. 'If we do this in 2026, this sets up a different conversation in 2028.' The group is hosting what they are billing as the largest independent event in Washington DC later this month, and predicts that 2026 will see an independent surge. But Musk may be a tainted messenger. He once enjoyed a level of support among a wide array of people with differing political views as a kind of real life Tony Stark, but his approval ratings have dipped in recent months, as has his brand. In December, according to a YouGov poll, Musk was even among independent voters, with 42% liking and disliking him. His unfavorable rating is now 59% among that group. 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That kind of narrative coherence is necessary, as party affiliation has become an extension of identity. In choosing to back a party, voters are telling a story about who they are, what they believe and how they think the government should operate. It's akin to joining a club. Musk has billions. But he has few resonant answers to that standard question that can be paraphrased this way when it comes to political parties: What are you and why are you here? Absent that, his third-party ambitions are likely to run aground. More From Bloomberg Opinion: This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades. More stories like this are available on
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4 hours ago
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China could yet trump the US in a global scramble for AI talent
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It feels 'as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something," OpenAI's chief research officer said of the aggressive poaching in a memo to staff. The latest victim: Apple Inc, which just lost top executive Ruoming Pang to Meta. It's telling that so many superstar players that US tech titans are boasting of adding to their rosters are of Chinese origin. Including Pang, eight of the 12 new recruits to the Meta Superintelligence Labs team graduated from universities in mainland China before pursuing careers abroad. It means that a key driver of the global AI race is a scramble for Chinese talent. The outsize role they play in developing AI systems for China's geopolitical rival isn't likely lost on Beijing. In other tech fields where workers hold a knowledge edge, the government hasn't been afraid of asking them to return home. Authorities have already reportedly restricted travel for some of DeepSeek's employees. 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