Latest news with #Amazon-backed
CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
Elon Musk's xAI raises $10 billion in debt and equity as it steps up challenge to OpenAI
XAI, the artificial intelligence startup run by Elon Musk, raised a combined $10 billion in debt and equity, Morgan Stanley said. Half of that sum was clinched through secured notes and term loans, while a separate $5 billion was secured through strategic equity investment, the bank said on Monday. The funding gives xAI more firepower to build out infrastructure and develop its Grok AI chatbot as it looks to compete with bitter rival OpenAI, as well as with a swathe of other players including Amazon-backed Anthropic. In May, Musk told CNBC that xAI has already installed 200,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) at its Colossus facility in Memphis, Tennessee. Colossus is xAI's supercomputer that trains the firm's AI. Musk at the time said that his company will continue buying chips from semiconductor giants Nvidia and AMD and that xAI is planning a 1-million-GPU facility outside of Memphis. Addressing the latest funds raised by the company, Morgan Stanley that "the proceeds will support xAI's continued development of cutting-edge AI solutions, including one of the world's largest data center and its flagship Grok platform." xAI continues to release updates to Grok and unveiled the Grok 3 AI model in February. Musk has sought to boost the use of Grok by integrating the AI model with the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. In March, xAI acquired X in a deal that valued the site at $33 billion and the AI firm at $80 billion. It's unclear if the new equity raise has changed that valuation. xAI was not immediately available for comment. Last year, xAI raised $6 billion at a valuation of $50 billion, CNBC reported. Morgan Stanley said the latest debt offering was "oversubscribed and included prominent global debt investors." Competition among American AI startups is intensifying, with companies raising huge amounts of funding to buy chips and build infrastructure. OpenAI in March closed a $40 billion financing round that valued the ChatGPT developer at $300 billion. Its big investors include Microsoft and Japan's SoftBank. Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, closed a funding round in March that valued the firm at $61.5 billion. The company then received a five-year $2.5 billion revolving credit line in May. Musk has called Grok a "maximally truth-seeking" AI that is also "anti-woke," in a bid to set it apart from its rivals. But this has not come without its fair share of controversy. Earlier this year, Grok responded to user queries with unrelated comments about the controversial topic of "white genocide" and South Africa. Musk has also clashed with fellow AI leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman. Most famously, Musk claimed that OpenAI, which he co-founded, has deviated from its original mission of developing AI to benefit humanity as a nonprofit and is instead focused on commercial success. In February, Musk alongside a group of investors, put in a bid of $97.4 billion to buy control of OpenAI. Altman swiftly rejected the offer. —
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Apple weighs using Anthropic or OpenAI to power Siri in major reversal: Report
Apple is weighing using artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power a new version of Siri, instead of its own in-house models, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. The iPhone maker has had discussions with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, asking them to train versions of their LLMs that could run on Apple's cloud infrastructure for testing, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. Apple's investigation into third-party models is at an early stage and the company has not made a final decision on using them, the report said. Amazon-backed Anthropic declined to comment, while Apple and OpenAI did not respond to Reuters requests. The company had said in March that AI improvements to its voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, without giving a reason for the setback. Apple shook up its executive ranks to get its AI efforts back on track after months of delays, resulting in Mike Rockwell taking charge of Siri, as CEO Tim Cook lost confidence in AI head John Giannandrea's ability to execute on product development, Bloomberg had reported in March. At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, Apple focused more on incremental developments that improve everyday life — including live translations for phone calls — rather than the sweeping ambitions for AI that Apple's rivals are capitalizing. Apple software chief Craig Federighi had then said it is opening up the foundational AI model that the iPhone maker uses for some of its own features to third-party developers, and that the company will offer both its own and OpenAI's code completion tools in its key Apple developer software.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Apple weighs using Anthropic or OpenAI to power Siri in major reversal, says report
Apple is weighing using artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power a new version of Siri, instead of its own in-house models, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. Shares of the iPhone maker, which had traded down earlier in the session, closed 2% higher on Monday. Apple has had discussions with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, asking them to train versions of their LLMs that could run on Apple's cloud infrastructure for testing, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. Apple's investigation into third-party models is at an early stage and the company has not made a final decision on using them, the report said. Amazon-backed Anthropic declined to comment, while Apple and OpenAI did not respond to Reuters requests. The company had in March said AI improvements to its voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, without giving a reason for the setback. Apple shook up its executive ranks to get its AI efforts back on track after months of delays, resulting in Mike Rockwell taking charge of Siri, as CEO Tim Cook lost confidence in AI head John Giannandrea's ability to execute on product development, Bloomberg had reported in March. At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, Apple focused more on incremental developments that improve everyday life — including live translations for phone calls — rather than the sweeping ambitions for AI that Apple's rivals are capitalizing. Apple software chief Craig Federighi had then said it is opening up the foundational AI model that the iPhone maker uses for some of its own features to third-party developers, and that the company will offer both its own and OpenAI's code completion tools in its key Apple developer software.
CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Apple weighs using Anthropic or OpenAI to power Siri in major reversal, Bloomberg News reports
Apple is weighing using artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power a new version of Siri, instead of its own in-house models, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. Shares of the iPhone maker, which had traded down earlier in the session, closed 2% higher on Monday. Apple has had discussions with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, asking them to train versions of their LLMs that could run on Apple's cloud infrastructure for testing, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. Apple's investigation into third-party models is at an early stage and the company has not made a final decision on using them, the report said. Amazon-backed Anthropic declined to comment, while Apple and OpenAI did not respond to Reuters requests. The company had in March said AI improvements to its voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, without giving a reason for the setback. Apple shook up its executive ranks to get its AI efforts back on track after months of delays, resulting in Mike Rockwell taking charge of Siri, as CEO Tim Cook lost confidence in AI head John Giannandrea's ability to execute on product development, Bloomberg had reported in March. At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, Apple focused more on incremental developments that improve everyday life — including live translations for phone calls — rather than the sweeping ambitions for AI that Apple's rivals are capitalizing. Apple software chief Craig Federighi had then said it is opening up the foundational AI model that the iPhone maker uses for some of its own features to third-party developers, and that the company will offer both its own and OpenAI's code completion tools in its key Apple developer software.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Apple mulls using OpenAI or Anthropic to power Siri in big reversal: report
Apple is weighing using artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power a new version of Siri, instead of its own in-house models, Bloomberg News reported Monday. The iPhone maker has had discussions with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, asking them to train versions of their LLMs that could run on Apple's cloud infrastructure for testing, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. Apple in March said AI improvements to its voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026. Advertisement Apple's investigation into third-party models is at an early stage and the company has not made a final decision on using them, the report said. Amazon-backed Anthropic declined to comment, while Apple and OpenAI did not respond to Reuters requests. The company had in March said AI improvements to its voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, without giving a reason for the setback. Advertisement Apple shook up its executive ranks to get its AI efforts back on track after months of delays, resulting in Mike Rockwell taking charge of Siri, as CEO Tim Cook lost confidence in AI head John Giannandrea's ability to execute on product development, Bloomberg had reported in March. Apple has had discussions with ChatGPT owner OpenAI and Anthropic about using their large language models for Siri. AP Amid intense competition among major tech firms to dominate the burgeoning generative AI sector, Apple has been partnering with established AI companies and integrating a host of on-device AI features to enhance its offerings. In May, Bloomberg reported that Apple was teaming up with Anthropic on a new 'vibe-coding' software platform that will use AI to write, edit and test code on behalf of programmers.
