Elon Musk Announces Partnership with Oracle
By Anthony Burr | TH3FUS3 Managing Editor
May 26, 2024 09:47 AM
Reading time: 1 minute, 48 seconds
TL;DR Due to high investor interest, Elon Musk's xAI targets $6 billion in funding. A partnership with Oracle aims to build a supercomputer for Grok, xAI's AI model. The plan includes a massive increase in GPU count and global expansion.
Partnership with Oracle
Elon Musk's xAI has announced a groundbreaking partnership with Oracle to create a supercomputer. This new venture aims to support the advanced development of xAI's AI model, Grok.
This collaboration highlights Musk's ambitious plans to enhance AI capabilities, signaling a potential shift in the technological landscape.
The Gigafactory of Compute
The partnership between xAI and Oracle is designed to construct what has been termed a "Gigafactory of Compute."
This initiative will focus on building a supercomputer as the backbone for training and evolving Grok.
In April, Musk aimed to secure $4 billion in funding at a $15 billion valuation for xAI.
Investor interest surged, prompting Musk to increase the funding target to $6 billion at an $18 billion valuation.
Massive GPU Expansion
Furthermore, the funds are anticipated to dramatically expand xAI's GPU count from 10,000 to 100,000 GPUs.
The two firms' expansion goals are a quantitative increase and a strategic enhancement to unify these GPUs into a robust supercomputer architecture, empowering Grok to reach new AI efficiency and capability heights.
Vision for the Future
During the VivaTech 2024 conference in Paris, Musk shared his vision for xAI's trajectory. He expressed confidence that xAI would catch up with AI industry leaders such as OpenAI and DeepMind by the end of 2024.
Musk also speculated that by the end of 2025, AI systems like Grok could outperform humans in all tasks, potentially redefining human roles in the economy.
"What is the meaning of human life if machines surpass human capabilities in every aspect?" pondered Musk.
Grok's European Launch
Recently, xAI introduced its AI chatbot, Grok, to the European market. This launch is a broader strategy to make advanced AI tools accessible worldwide.
Despite the wide rollout, Grok is yet to be available to all European users, reflecting a phased approach to its introduction. Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, the parent company of xAI, highlighted this expansion as a pivotal development.
According to Yaccarino, Grok's deployment in Europe marks a significant milestone in xAI's strategy to extend its market presence beyond the US.
This move is expected to foster broader adoption and integration of AI across various sectors, potentially influencing global AI strategies and policies.