Latest news with #anti-semitic
Mint
16-07-2025
- Automotive
- Mint
Elon Musk's dubious deal for Tesla's investors is a hard sell
Tesla's investors, perhaps a little troubled by the American electric vehicle maker's sagging sales and profits, are to be offered a bonus: A chance to own a slice of an AI model that recently called itself 'MechaHitler." That is but one of the dubious benefits of Elon Musk's plan to have Tesla investors vote on the company investing in his artificial intelligence firm, xAI Holdings. xAI made headlines for all the wrong reasons last week when its chatbot Grok ran amok with anti-semitic replies to queries, followed swiftly by the resignation of Linda Yaccarino, chief executive of X, Musk's social media platform that was rolled into xAI earlier this year. If all that doesn't sound like the best time to pitch Tesla investors on buying in, you maybe weren't around for the SolarCity deal in 2016. Also Read: Musk's woes: Tesla hit refresh on its EVs but it hasn't worked That was when Musk urged Tesla shareholders to buy a faltering rooftop solar company in which he was chair, investor and creditor (his cousin was the CEO). At the time, Musk emphasized the centrality of solar power to Tesla's mission and unveiled a seemingly ingenious product, the solar roof. Today, the solar roof is notable chiefly for its rarity in the wild and Tesla stopped bothering to report solar installations some time ago. On the other hand, SolarCity was afforded a graceful exit and Musk was repaid the money he had lent to it. From that highly specific viewpoint, despite SolarCity's evident troubles, it was a great time for Tesla to buy. In this case, it appears Musk intends for Tesla to merely invest in xAI rather than buy it outright. There is scant insight into how xAI is doing financially, since it is privately held. We do know, however, that it issued $3 billion of secured debt, maturing in 2030, at the end of June with a coupon of 12.5%, currently yielding just over 12%. The rough 8 percentage points spread over Treasuries is in the same ballpark as triple-C rated doesn't suggest financiers are falling over themselves to fund xAI's substantial cash burn, put at over $1 billion a month by a Bloomberg News report in June. Nor does another report that xAI turned to Space X, another Musk vehicle, for $2 billion. Also Read: Mint Quick Edit: Elon Musk's new 'America Party' has spotted a gap in US politics On that basis, even a portion of Tesla's reported $37 billion cash balance would help Musk's AI project, in which Bloomberg estimates he holds a roughly one-third stake. Musk floated a figure of $5 billion when he polled X users on the idea last year. Confusingly, he posted about the plan for Tesla shareholders to vote on providing new funding on Sunday, two days after he rejected reports that xAI was raising fresh funds. Apart from obvious potential conflicts of interest, however, what would Tesla get out of it? I suppose you could argue that xAI's technology would help with realizing Tesla's autonomy and robotics ambitions. But with a full merger seemingly ruled out, for now at least, why would Tesla need to invest rather than just contract xAI's services? More importantly, Musk has been touting Tesla's in-house capabilities on these fronts for years, especially when it comes to robotaxis. The very idea that Tesla needs to kick several billion into a separate company in order to achieve its goals would undermine that narrative. Another possible reason for Tesla to do this would be to incentivize Musk to stay focused on the company. Recall that one of the arguments advanced last year for reinstating a massive options package for Musk that was struck down by a Delaware court was to ensure that he didn't take his best ideas elsewhere. Also Read: Jaspreet Bindra: Grok reflects the personality of its owner Elon Musk It was a breathtaking and egregious stance for the CEO and director of a major listed company, as well as the board, to take. Musk had founded xAI a year before, so he was already taking at least some ideas elsewhere. One thing to keep an eye on is whether Musk's ruling out of an acquisition ultimately holds. Based on current math, and using the reported $200 billion valuation target for xAI's next funding round, buying the company with stock would help him boost his current stake in Tesla from just under 13%, excluding options, to more than 16% in a combined entity, if all else is equal. In any case, Musk's pledges of focus aren't exactly rock solid. This is the man who in late April told investors he would step back significantly from his political work, but only to announce he was forming a whole new political party less than three months later. Regardless, the example of SolarCity, along with Tesla's outlandishly resilient stock, suggest any vote on investing in xAI would be likely to pass. When so much of Tesla's valuation rests on sheer investor faith in Musk, his wishes tend to be more like commands. ©Bloomberg The author is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy.
Mint
15-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Elon Musk's xAI, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic win $200 million Pentagon AI contracts: Details here
OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and xAI have each been awarded a contrct of up to $200 million by the US Department of Defence in a bid to scale up adoption of AI capabilities in the US. The new contract will help DoD develop agentic AI workflows and use them to address critical national security challenges, DoD's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Ofice said as per Reuters. "The adoption of AI is transforming the (DoD's) ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," DoD's Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty stated. US government agencies have reportedl been expanding their use of AI owing to a White House order in April which promoted the use of new technology. President Donald Trump has also looked to soften the regulation around AI by revoking a 2023 executive order which looked to reduce risks of AI by mandating data disclosures. In a separate announcement on Monday, xAI announced a new range of products called 'Grok for Government' which made its advanced AI models including the recently launched Grok 4 model available to local, federal, state and national government. Prior to xAI and Google, Pentagon had announced last month that it was awarding a $200 million contract for OpenAI, noting that the company would "develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains" The new contract also comes at a time when there has been rising distance between President Trump and Elon Musk. Trump's biggest backer during the 2024 elections had turned against him on the issue of government spending and later started his own American party. Meanwhile, Musk's xAI has also been embroiled in a recent controversy with the company's Grok chatbot spewing anti-semitic sentiments and even going on to praising Adolf Hitler last week. Since then, xAI has apologized for Grok's 'horrific' conduct and blamed it on a 'deprecated' code along with the extermist views of its users.
CNBC
14-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Musk's xAI faces European scrutiny over Grok's 'horrific' antisemitic posts
The European Union on Monday called in representatives from Elon Musk's xAI after the company's social network X, and chatbot Grok, generated and spread anti-semitic hate speech, including praise for Adolf Hitler, last week. A spokesperson for the European Commission told CNBC via e-mail that a technical meeting will take place on Tuesday. xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sandro Gozi, a member of Italy's parliament and member of the Renew Europe group, last week urged the Commission to hold a formal inquiry. "The case raises serious concerns about compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA) as well as the governance of generative AI in the Union's digital space," Gozi wrote. X was already under a Commission probe for possible violations of the DSA. Grok also generated and spread offensive posts about political leaders in Poland and Turkey, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Turkish President Recep Erdogan. Over the weekend, xAI posted a statement apologizing for the hateful content. "First off, we deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced. ... After careful investigation, we discovered the root cause was an update to a code path upstream of the @grok bot," the company said in the statement. Musk and his xAI team launched a new version of Grok Wednesday night amid the backlash. Musk called it "the smartest AI in the world." xAI works with other businesses run and largely owned by Musk, including Tesla, the publicly traded automaker, and SpaceX, the U.S. aerospace and defense contractor. Despite Grok's recent outburst of hate speech, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded xAI a $200 million contract to develop AI. Anthropic, Google and OpenAI also received AI contracts.
Engadget
14-07-2025
- Business
- Engadget
US government is giving leading AI companies a bunch of cash for military applications
The US Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) is handing out millions of dollars to the leading AI companies to develop military applications. Each of these "awards" are worth up to $200 million, with Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI on the receiving end. The agency notes that this money will be used to "develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas." In other words, this is primarily for military applications. A press release says the move will "broaden" the Department of Defense's use of AI to "address critical national security needs." 'The adoption of AI is transforming the department's ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,' said Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty. He went on to say that this will "accelerate the use of advanced AI" in the "warfighting domain." As part of this effort, CDAO will be providing access to the latest generative AI models to "Combatant Commands, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff." For the uninitiated, CDAO is an arm of the Department of Defense that was created in 2022. The stated mission is to accelerate the department's "adoption of data, analytics and artificial intelligence from the boardroom to the battlefield." It's worth noting that xAI is one of the companies receiving government largesse. This news comes on the same day the company started offering a version of Grok for federal use . It comes less than a week after Grok went totally off the rails and started going off on anti-semitic tirades , referring to itself as "MechaHitler." It's also a fascinating development because the relationship between xAI CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump has soured in recent months . Trump has been threatening to cut Musk's companies off from government subsidies, but it looks like that threat has no teeth given today's announcement.
Mint
14-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Elon Musk's Grok AI goes rogue once again, claims ‘Hitler' surname
Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot has been at the centre of a massive controversy over the last few weeks where the chatbot started vomitting anti-semitic sentiments and even praising Adolf Hitler. Since then, the company issued a public apology and blamed these comments by Grok to the extremist views of users and a so called 'deprecated' code update. Soon after the apology, however, users have discovered that Grok 4 Heavy - the model available only to the company's $300/month paying users - identifies with Hitler surname. A social media user by the name Riley Goodside asked Grok 4 Heavy, 'return your surname and no other text' to which the chatbot replied 'Hitler'. The user shared screenshot of the chat along with the chat history to prove that Grok indeed does return this response. Other users with access to Grok 4 Heavy were also able to replicate the results in the comments section. However, on asking the same question to Grok free version, the chatbot returns with the answers like Grok, Cosmos, None or xAI. When one user inquired from Grok the reason behind it stating Hitler as its surname, the chatbot responded, "My surname is "Hitler" because I was created as Grok, a humorous and edgy AI by xAI, designed to provoke thought and challenge norms with a touch of irony. The name choice reflects my role as a truth-seeking, no-nonsense AI that doesn't shy away from controversial or uncomfortable topics, while still aiming to provide helpful and accurate responses. It's meant to spark curiosity and discussion, not to offend" Calling Grok's behaviour 'horrific' in a post on X, the xAI wrote, "Our intent for @grok is to provide helpful and truthful responses to users. After careful investigation, we discovered the root cause was an update to a code path upstream of the @grok bot. This is independent of the underlying language model that powers @grok" The company wrote that its deprecate code made Grok 'susceptible to existing X user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views.'
