xAI announced in a blog post that the second-round funding included Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.
Further progress with the Grok-1.5 model—which has lengthy context capabilities—and the Grok-1.5V model—which has picture understanding features—were recently disclosed by xAI.
Grok-1’s open-source release has made it easier for the model to be applied, optimised, and extended, which has accelerated its development.
The company claimed that it is now hiring for a variety of positions and is looking for bright people who are prepared to join “a small team focused on making a meaningful impact on the future of humanity” in light of the new investment.
Musk confirmed that it is hiring several engineers to fill positions in its offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and the UK.
The additional funding will be utilised to accelerate research and development for upcoming innovations, build cutting-edge infrastructure, and introduce the company’s first commercial AI products.
“xAI will continue on this steep trajectory of progress over the coming months, with multiple exciting technology updates and products soon to be announced. xAI is primarily focused on the development of advanced AI systems that are truthful, competent, and maximally beneficial for all of humanity.
“The company’s mission is to understand the true nature of the universe,” it said.
xAI is currently guided by Elon Musk to rival other prominent firms like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google.
Due to concerns about OpenAI’s direction and business relationships, Musk, who also serves as the CEO of Tesla and co-founded the company, has recently distanced himself from it.
Musk co-founded OpenAI and was among the first investors in AI technologies. But ever since he broke off his relationship with OpenAI, he has been a vocal opponent of the firm.
We earlier reported that Grok is used by X’s AI-driven “Stories on X” feature to generate summaries of the most popular stories and conversations on the platform.
