Tesla Dumped by Danish Pension Over Labor Rights, Musk's Actions
'Patience has a way of running out at some point,' AkademikerPension Chief Executive Officer Jens Munch Holst said on Friday. 'We've now reached that point when it comes to Tesla.'
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Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
X Premium Users Can Now Sign up for Its Coming Text-To-Video Option
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. Elon's going all-in on AI, with his xAI project now seeking to compete with Meta, OpenAI, Google and others, by providing similar generative AI features and tools, hosted within both X itself and the separate Grok AI app. The next big element incoming is xAI's new image and video generation option, which it's calling 'Imagine.' And according to a new splash screen in the Grok app, that's coming very soon. As you can see in this screenshot (posted by Jonah Manzano), xAI is now informing Grok users that they can join the waitlist for 'the fastest image and video generation experience.' I mean, I'm not sure that people really want to fastest tool on this front necessarily, but preferably the best tool for translating their text prompts into actual images and video. Though Elon's confident on that front as well, posting a 6-second video example from xAI's current generation model: Elon's so confident that people will like his new 'Imagine' option, that he's even claimed that X will effectively bring back Vine in AI form via a coming influx of AI-generated clips. Which could be interesting, I guess, but it's not really the return of Vine so much as an introduction of another text-to-video AI tool. Which, functionally, won't be new, given that Google Veo offers the same, while OpenAI, Meta and TikTok are all also developing their own text-to-video models. But still, Elon's always keen to proclaim his version as the best, and the leader of the pack. And right now at least, he could have some claim to that, given the amount of processing power that xAI has seemingly been able to activate via its Colossus data center. According to Musk, xAI is now operating 230k Nvidia H100 GPUs at its various facilities, powering the latest Grok models. Nvidia's chips have become a key component for AI development, and the more you have, the better the performance of your AI systems. For comparison, Meta reportedly has around 350,000 Nvidia H100 chips, though not all are available for Meta AI processing, while OpenAI has around 200k in operation. So right now at least, xAI could indeed have the most powerful AI models in operation, though it seems unlikely that this will remain the case, given that Meta has more capacity, and is developing its own AI chips to expand its systems even further. Though Musk's other business, Tesla, has also signed a new deal with Samsung to develop custom chips, which could eventually see Musk working towards his own variation of the same. Though even then, it still seems like xAI is going to struggle to compete in the wider market, considering the early mover advantages gained by OpenAI, and the near limitless capacity of Meta. I had assumed that Musk's ties with the U.S. government, through his friendship with President Trump, would be the key play on this front, with xAI able to build custom AI systems that align with the requirements of U.S. government customers. But then Musk turned on Trump, and Trump has since threatened to cut all government contracts with Musk's companies. So that, seemingly, has burned that bridge. But then again, xAI did ink a $200 million contract with the Pentagon just two weeks ago, which will see the company provide AI tools to the Defense Department. So maybe all the Elon vs Trump stuff is being overblown, and Musk will still be able to capitalize on his involvement with the government in order to benefit his companies. Without that, however, I don't see why companies would be lining up to do business with xAI, given its various controversies around misinformation, and alignment with Elon's own opinions. Yet, Elon clearly sees this as a key opportunity, and he's now pushing hard to make xAI into a bigger project, and capitalize on the broader AI hype. If that works out, then Elon could be on another big money winner, which will keep the cash flowing into X, Tesla robotics, and more, as he pushes to lead the next tech stage. But as with all of Musk's projects, a lot has to go right for this to work out. The approach seems to be working for him so far, but it always feels like it's barely being held together by Elon's irrational confidence. You can view more examples of Imagine clips here. Recommended Reading LinkedIn Shares Monthly Active User Counts in EU as Part of DSA Compliance Sign in to access your portfolio
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Elon Musk Spent Millions to Get Back in Donald Trump's Good Graces
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Elon Musk made donations totaling $15 million to three super PACs supporting Donald Trump and the Republicans after his very public falling out with the president, but all before he announced his plans for the new "America Party." Newsweek reached out to the White House and Musk via X, SpaceX, and Tesla for comment by email outside of normal business hours on Saturday morning. Why It Matters Musk and Trump formed a fast and mutually beneficial friendship in the runup to the 2024 presidential election, with Musk bankrolling Trump's campaign to the tune of at least $250 million and helping him secure victory against then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. Trump then positioned Musk as the point person for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), giving him free rein to look into the federal government to cut back on "waste, fraud, and abuse" and bring down spending across all departments. However, their relationship took a turn as pressure mounted against Musk, with Tesla suffering significantly due to his role in the Trump administration, and ultimately Musk left his post to return to the private sector. Musk, who called himself Trump's "first buddy," also publicly criticized the administration-backed "One Big Beautiful Bill," which aims to extend tax cuts, increase immigration enforcement, and end consumer incentives for electric vehicles. Trump and Musk then started to taking shots at each other—through the press and via their respective social media platforms—culminating in a very public falling out in June. Musk accused Trump of withholding the release of the Epstein files because he was allegedly named in them, and Trump threatened to cut Musk's contracts with the federal government. Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks is seen in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30 in Washington, D.C. Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks is seen in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30 in Washington, To Know Following their public feud, which occurred in the first week of June, Musk appeared to try and make amends with the president by donating $5 million to each of three super PACs related to Trump and the Republicans. The Daily Mail first noted the donations in a report on Friday, but Newsweek verified through Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings that Musk donated $5 million each to MAGA Inc., the Senate Leadership Fund, and the House Leadership Fund. All three donations were made on June 27, which is about a week before he then declared he would create his own political party—the America Party. Musk's last donations were made to the AMERICA PAC, which included a roughly $27 million donation on June 30, according to the filings. He has also donated to the reelection campaign for Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Barry Moore of Alabama, although those were only a few thousand dollars each. This was also around the time that Musk heavily criticized the "One Big Beautiful Bill," which he said was "political suicide" to pass and warned it would add trillions to the national debt. Musk decided to create the America Party after holding a poll on X on July 4, in which he asked users: "Should we create the America Party?" as a way of creating "independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system." The poll received 1.25 million votes, with 65.4 percent saying "Yes," which Musk greeted with enthusiasm, writing: "By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! When it comes to bankrupting our country with waster & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy." As a foreign-born U.S. citizen, Musk cannot run for president, but he could bankroll other candidates, which he could do with a third party. He wrote in a separate X post that if he did make a new party, he would focus on capturing two or three Senate seats and eight to 10 seats in the House of Representatives in order to have impact on legislation. Trump criticized Musk's decision to start a third party, writing on Truth Social at the time, in part: "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States - The System seems not designed for them. The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS." What People Are Saying President Donald Trump in his last Truth Social post to mention Elon Musk, which was on July 24, wrote: "Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon's companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so! I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before! The better they do, the better the USA does, and that's good for all of us. We are setting records every day, and I want to keep it that way!" Elon Musk in his last X post to mention Donald Trump, which was on July 8, wrote: "How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?" What Happens Next? It remains unclear if Trump and Musk have had any direct communication following their war-of-words in June. This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun says Elon Musk risks 'killing breakthrough innovation' at xAI. Here's why.
Meta's Yann LeCun disagrees with Elon Musk about the role of researchers at AI companies. Musk earlier said xAI is ditching the "researcher" job title in favor of "engineers." LeCun said ignoring the distinction between them could risk "killing breakthrough innovation." Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, doesn't agree with Elon Musk's latest take on AI development. Like, at all. Musk sparked a conversation about the roles of researchers and engineers at tech companies on Tuesday in an X post. Musk said his AI startup, xAI, would ditch the "researcher" job title in favor of "engineer." "This false nomenclature of 'researcher' and 'engineer', which is a thinly-masked way of describing a two-tier engineering system, is being deleted from @xAI today," Musk said. "There are only engineers. Researcher is a relic term from academia." Two days later, LeCun shared a screenshot of Musk's X post on LinkedIn with a multi-paragraph response. "If you make no distinction between the two activities, if you don't evaluate researchers and engineers with different criteria, you run the risk of killing breakthrough innovation," LeCun said. "True breakthroughs require teams with a long horizon and minimal constraints from product development and management." Musk isn't the first person to question the distinction between AI researchers and engineers. Other leading AI companies have, too. In a 2023 X post, OpenAI President Greg Brockman said that the company didn't want to put its workers into such defined buckets. Instead, the ChatGPT-maker settled on the phrase "Member of Technical Staff." Anthropic, which makes Claude, also uses "Member of Technical Staff" as a job title. "While there's historically been a division between engineering and research in machine learning, we think that boundary has dissolved with the advent of large models," Anthropic says on its careers page. LeCun, however, says the research labs that shaped what the science and tech industries have become were all separate from engineering divisions. "The industry research labs of yore that have left an indelible mark on scientific and technological progress (Bell Labs Area 11, IBM Research, Xerox PARC, etc) were all research divisions that were clearly separate from engineering divisions," LeCun said. Read the original article on Business Insider
