WASHINGTON: Billionaire Elon Musk launched a poll on the social media platform X, asking users if Tesla should invest $5 billion in his artificial intelligence startup, xAI.
Musk noted that board approval and shareholder votes would be necessary, adding that the poll aims to “test the waters” for a potential deal.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, and xAI was also unavailable for comment. As of 0234 GMT, over 322,000 users had participated in the poll, with 70.2% voting in favor of the investment. The poll is set to close within a day.
Musk founded xAI last year as a competitor to Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google, both leaders in the race for generative AI dominance. Earlier in the day, Tesla reported its lowest profit margin in more than five years due to price cuts aimed at reviving demand and increased spending on AI projects.
Tesla stated it expects hardware-related profits to be supplemented by accelerated gains from AI, software, and fleet-based operations. Last month, Musk indicated that Tesla would likely spend between $3 billion and $4 billion this year on hardware from chipmaker Nvidia.
Of the $10 billion in AI-related capital expenditures this year, Musk stated about half would be for internal use. xAI, valued at $24 billion, raised $6 billion in Series B funding in May, backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.
