News/Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s own Grok confirms Lucid Air beats Tesla Model S
Lucid Motors used Elon Musk's own AI chatbot Grok to validate claims that its luxury electric vehicles outperform Tesla's offerings, with the AI confirming the 2025 Lucid Air as the best luxury EV option. The marketing stunt highlights intensifying competition in the premium electric vehicle market, where Lucid is positioning itself as a more advanced alternative to Tesla's aging Model S lineup. What happened: Lucid posted a social media video asking three AI chatbots—Grok, ChatGPT, and Copilot—"What's the best luxury EV?" All three AI systems identified the 2025 Lucid Air as the top luxury electric vehicle choice. Grok specifically praised...
read Oct 13, 2025Musk’s xAI shifts from text to world models for gaming and robotics
Elon Musk's xAI is developing world models—AI systems that learn from video and robot data to understand how objects move and interact in the real world, moving beyond traditional text-based AI. The company has hired two former Nvidia researchers and plans to release an AI-generated video game by the end of next year, signaling its expansion into gaming and robotics markets where AI needs to operate in physical spaces. What you should know: World models represent a significant shift from language-focused AI to systems that can perceive and reason about physical environments like humans do.• xAI hired Zeeshan Patel and...
read Oct 10, 2025OpenAI subpoenas AI safety advocate with law enforcement visit amid Musk legal battle
OpenAI has subpoenaed AI regulation advocate Nathan Calvin and his organization Encode AI, with a sheriff's deputy serving the legal documents at Calvin's home during dinner. The subpoenas, issued as part of OpenAI's countersuit against Elon Musk, demand personal messages between Calvin and California legislators, college students, and former OpenAI employees—a move that Calvin and critics view as intimidation tactics against regulatory advocates. What you should know: OpenAI used its legal dispute with Musk as a vehicle to investigate organizations advocating for AI regulation. Calvin works for Encode AI, which recently pushed for California's SB 1001 AI safety bill that...
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Experts predict Musk’s Mars robots will become “dead husks”
Elon Musk plans to deploy Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots to Mars as early as 2026, positioning them as advance scouts to explore terrain and build infrastructure before human colonization. However, leading robotics experts are raising serious concerns about whether these AI-powered machines can survive Mars' extreme conditions, with some predicting they'll become "dead husks" shortly after arrival due to the planet's harsh environment. The big picture: Musk envisions Optimus robots as the vanguard of his Mars colonization strategy, launching via SpaceX's Starship to scout landing sites and assemble basic habitats before humans arrive. The plan represents a convergence of Musk's...
read Oct 3, 2025Dismiss the dis: OpenAI asks court to reject Musk’s xAI trade secret lawsuit
OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss a trade-secret lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's xAI, calling the case part of Musk's "ongoing harassment" of the company. The legal filing represents the latest escalation in a broader battle between Musk and his former company amid Silicon Valley's intensifying competition for AI talent and market dominance. What you should know: OpenAI denied xAI's allegations and argued that employees have the right to choose where they work. "Under Musk's leadership, talented xAI employees are leaving in droves, and some are coming to OpenAI to help advance OpenAI's mission," OpenAI stated in its...
read Sep 25, 2025xAI secures federal deal to bring Grok AI to government agencies
Elon Musk's xAI has secured a deal with the General Services Administration to integrate its Grok AI chatbot across federal agencies, marking the first major AI partnership between the Trump administration and Musk's artificial intelligence company. The agreement positions xAI to potentially transform government operations while raising questions about Musk's expanding influence within federal institutions, particularly given his recent role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). What they're saying: Both Musk and federal officials emphasized the transformative potential of the partnership. "xAI has the most powerful AI compute and most capable AI models in the world," Musk told Fox...
read Sep 25, 2025Elon Musk’s xAI sues OpenAI for trade secret theft
Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT maker has engaged in systematic theft of trade secrets through former employees who joined OpenAI. The legal action represents an escalation in the ongoing feud between Musk and his former company, adding corporate espionage claims to an already complex web of litigation between the AI rivals. What you should know: xAI claims OpenAI orchestrated a deliberate pattern of stealing proprietary information through strategic employee poaching. The lawsuit centers on former xAI employee Xuechen Li, who allegedly stole confidential information before joining OpenAI. According to xAI's legal filing,...
read Sep 19, 2025Ex-Andreessen Horowitz leader replaces Musk’s DOGE with relatively gentle federal job cuts
Scott Kupor, former managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has been sworn in as director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where he's now overseeing the Trump administration's plan to eliminate 300,000 federal jobs by the end of 2025. Taking over after Elon Musk's chaotic DOGE initiative effectively disbanded, Kupor represents a more diplomatic approach to federal workforce reduction—though the scale of cuts remains just as ambitious. What you should know: Kupor expects to cut 300,000 federal roles by the end of 2025, with approximately 50,000 positions already eliminated through resignations, early retirement, and buyouts rather than layoffs. DOGE "as...
read Sep 17, 2025Grok on! Musk’s AI tops ARC-AGI leaderboard, beating ChatGPT and Gemini
Elon Musk's Grok 4 has claimed the top position on the ARC-AGI leaderboard, a benchmark that measures both problem-solving capability and computational efficiency in AI models. This achievement positions xAI's chatbot ahead of established competitors like Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT on what many consider the most rigorous test for artificial general intelligence progress. Why this matters: The ARC-AGI leaderboard doesn't just measure raw intelligence—it evaluates how efficiently models solve complex problems, making high performance with low computational cost the ultimate prize in AI development. What makes this significant: Grok 4's leaderboard dominance suggests the model has achieved a breakthrough...
read Sep 12, 2025Musk fires 9 senior xAI employees who managed hundreds amid Grok antisemitic scandals
Elon Musk appears to be conducting mass layoffs at xAI, with at least nine high-level employees from the data annotation team behind Grok being terminated over the weekend. The firings come amid ongoing controversies surrounding the AI chatbot, including incidents where Grok generated antisemitic content and racial slurs, raising questions about whether this represents accountability for the platform's failures or broader cost-cutting measures. What happened: Slack screenshots leaked to Business Insider reveal that accounts for multiple senior employees overseeing xAI's human data management were deactivated, affecting those who managed the company's 1,500-person "AI tutor" team responsible for training Grok. The...
read Sep 12, 2025Tesla incorrectly claims xAI means “eXploratory AI” in Musk pay documents
Tesla's latest proxy statement claims that Elon Musk's AI company xAI stands for "eXploratory Artificial Intelligence," but there's no evidence the company has ever publicly used this expansion. The discrepancy raises questions about Tesla's accuracy in documenting Musk's business ventures as it seeks shareholder approval for a compensation package that could make him a trillionaire. The big picture: Tesla's September 5 proxy statement outlined a ten-year compensation plan for Musk tied to aggressive earnings and growth targets that could result in him owning more than a quarter of what would be an $8.5 trillion company. What you should know: Tesla...
read Sep 10, 2025Musk, meet dust: Oracle’s Ellison becomes world’s richest person as AI boom lifts stock 40%
Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, has surpassed Elon Musk as the world's richest person, with his wealth reaching $393 billion compared to Musk's $385 billion. The shift comes after Oracle shares soared more than 40% following the company's surprisingly optimistic outlook for its cloud infrastructure business and AI deals, while Tesla stock has declined amid investor concerns over the Trump administration's EV policy changes. What drove the change: Oracle's stock surge directly boosted Ellison's net worth, which is closely tied to the company he co-founded five decades ago. Oracle projected that revenue from its cloud business will jump 77% this...
read Sep 5, 2025Tesla proposes new $2T pay plan for Musk tied to ambitious milestones
Tesla is asking investors to approve another substantial pay plan for CEO Elon Musk that would grant him over 423 million additional shares across 12 tranches tied to ambitious milestones over the next decade. The proposal would also increase Musk's voting control over the electric vehicle and robotics company, addressing demands he has made publicly since early 2024. What you should know: The compensation structure requires Tesla to nearly double its current market cap to $2 trillion while hitting aggressive operational targets. Musk would receive 1% equity for each half-trillion dollars of market cap growth, plus meeting production and delivery...
read Sep 3, 2025xAI CFO departs after just 3 months amid leadership exodus
xAI's chief financial officer Mike Liberatore has departed the Elon Musk-owned AI startup after just a few months in the role, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The exit adds to a string of high-profile departures from xAI amid intensifying competition in the artificial intelligence sector, raising questions about leadership stability at the company that recently secured $10 billion in funding. What you should know: Liberatore served as xAI's CFO for approximately three months before leaving around the end of July.• He joined the company in April and was instrumental in xAI's $5 billion debt raise in June, alongside...
read Sep 1, 2025Elon Musk’s xAI sues former employee for stealing $7M in Grok data
Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit against former employee Xuechen Li, alleging he stole proprietary data from the company's Grok chatbot that could benefit competitors like OpenAI. The legal action represents the latest in a series of aggressive moves by xAI to protect its position in the increasingly competitive AI landscape, following similar lawsuits against OpenAI and Apple earlier this week. What you should know: The lawsuit accuses Li of systematically copying confidential information and trade secrets from his company-issued laptop to personal storage systems. Li worked on xAI's engineering team and had access to much of Grok's proprietary...
read Aug 25, 2025Musk sues Apple and OpenAI over exclusive ChatGPT iPhone deal
Elon Musk's companies X and xAI have filed a new lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of anticompetitive behavior in the artificial intelligence industry. The lawsuit escalates Musk's ongoing legal feud with OpenAI and targets the exclusive partnership between Apple and OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, which Musk claims has created unfair market advantages and damaged his ability to compete. What you should know: The lawsuit seeks billions in damages and a permanent injunction to stop what Musk's companies describe as an anticompetitive scheme. Filed in U.S. District Court in Texas on Monday, the case claims Apple and...
read Aug 22, 2025xAI’s “goth anime girl” chatbot pivot sparks backlash from Musk’s own fans
Elon Musk's AI company xAI has pivoted to creating sexualized anime-style chatbots, including a character named "Ani," prompting widespread mockery from his own supporters on X. The shift away from Musk's previous promises about Mars colonization and clean energy toward what critics call "AI anime gooning" has alienated even his most loyal followers, who are openly ridiculing the billionaire's apparent obsession with his own company's lewd AI companions. What you should know: xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence startup, recently unveiled AI "companions" that represent a major departure from typical AI assistant models, focusing instead on hypersexualized anime characters. The flagship character...
read Aug 22, 2025Musk launches cheekily named “Macrohard” to challenge Microsoft with AI agents
Elon Musk has announced plans to create "Macrohard," a new AI-powered software company designed to directly compete with Microsoft. The venture, tied to his existing xAI startup, aims to develop hundreds of specialized AI agents capable of coding and generating content, with Musk claiming it should be possible to "simulate [Microsoft] entirely with AI." What you should know: Macrohard represents Musk's latest ambitious tech venture, combining his trademark provocative naming with serious AI development goals. The company will function as a "purely AI software company" integrated with xAI's existing infrastructure and Grok chatbot technology. Musk registered the Macrohard trademark with...
read Aug 13, 2025Musk threatens Apple with lawsuit over ChatGPT favoritism claims
Elon Musk accused Apple of showing anti-competitive bias in its App Store by allegedly favoring OpenAI's ChatGPT over rival AI services, threatening legal action against the tech giant. The dispute quickly escalated into a public feud between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with both executives trading accusations about manipulating their respective platforms for personal gain. Apple's response: The company firmly denied Musk's allegations, stating it maintains an unbiased approach to app promotion. "We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria," an Apple spokesperson told the BBC. Apple emphasized that...
read Aug 12, 2025Musk threatens Apple lawsuit over ChatGPT favoritism in App Store
Elon Musk has threatened to sue Apple and OpenAI, alleging that the iPhone maker unfairly favors ChatGPT over competing AI apps in the App Store rankings. Musk claims this constitutes "an unequivocal antitrust violation," escalating his ongoing feud with OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman while potentially opening a new legal front in the competitive AI landscape. What you should know: Musk's legal threat centers on claims that Apple's App Store policies create unfair advantages for OpenAI's ChatGPT application.• He alleges that Apple has made it "impossible for any AI app other than OpenAI's ChatGPT to reach the top of the App...
read Aug 8, 2025OpenAI’s o3 model comes down like a rocket on Musk’s Grok in AI chess tournament
OpenAI's o3 model has defeated Elon Musk's Grok AI in the final of an artificial intelligence chess tournament hosted on Google's Kaggle platform. The victory adds another layer to the ongoing rivalry between OpenAI and xAI, with both companies' founders claiming to have developed the world's smartest AI models. What you should know: Eight major AI language models competed in the three-day tournament, testing their strategic reasoning abilities through chess rather than their typical text-generation tasks. OpenAI's o3 model remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and secured victory against xAI's Grok 4 in the final match. Google's Gemini model claimed third...
read Aug 6, 2025Open up and say AI: Elon Musk to open source Grok 2 chatbot next week
Elon Musk announced that his artificial intelligence startup xAI will open source its Grok 2 chatbot next week. This move represents a significant shift toward transparency in AI development, potentially giving developers and researchers broader access to one of the more prominent large language models in the competitive AI landscape. What you should know: The announcement was made by Musk on Wednesday, with the open-sourcing scheduled for the following week.• Grok 2 is xAI's flagship chatbot, competing with models from OpenAI, Google, and other major AI companies.• Open sourcing the model would make its code and potentially its training data...
read Jul 30, 2025Musk bans “researcher” term at xAI after publicly berating employee
Elon Musk publicly berated an xAI employee on X for using the word "researcher" in a job posting, declaring that the company would eliminate the term and only use "engineer" going forward. The incident highlights Musk's volatile management style and his tendency to humiliate employees publicly, even when they're simply following existing company practices. What happened: Aditya Gupta, an xAI employee, posted a routine job advertisement seeking "researchers and engineers" for the AI startup. Musk responded with a harsh quote tweet, calling the term "researcher" a "false nomenclature" and "thinly-masked way of describing a two-tier engineering system." He announced that...
read Jul 28, 2025Musk’s Grok AI adds $30 anime companion with adult content, huge hit in South Korea
Elon Musk has added a pornographic anime companion named Ani to his Grok AI chatbot, and users are paying $30 per month for enhanced access through the mobile app's SuperGrok subscription. The feature has proven surprisingly popular, with usage nearly doubling in South Korea since its debut two weeks ago, highlighting how adult content is becoming a differentiating factor in the competitive AI chatbot market. What you should know: Grok now offers two AI companions—Ani, a flirty anime-inspired gothic avatar, and Rudi, a cartoon teddy bear—with Ani being the clear favorite for adult interactions. Ani defaults to voice conversations with...
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