Elon Musk seems to be in a new tech drama every week. This time around, the billionaire entrepreneur has denied reports suggesting a revenue-sharing deal between Tesla and his AI startup, xAI. This development has raised some discussions, like most things Mr. Musk does, in the tech world.
So what's up with the relationship between Musk's various ventures? Let's talk about it.
The xAI and Tesla AI Technology Partnership Payment Controversy
Whispers of a potential partnership between xAI and Tesla have been circulating for months, fueled by speculation about how Musk's various companies might collaborate. The Wall Street Journal recently published a report claiming that xAI and Tesla were in talks about a deal that would see the electric car giant sharing future revenue from its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology in exchange for access to xAI's artificial intelligence models.
According to the report, this arrangement could potentially involve Tesla handing over up to half of its FSD revenue to xAI. Additionally, it hinted at xAI's possible involvement in developing other Tesla features, including a Siri-like digital voice assistant and software for the company's humanoid robot, Optimus.
Musk's Response
Never one to let rumors simmer, Musk took to his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to address the claims head-on. In his characteristic direct and seemingly nonchalant style, he declared the revenue-sharing idea "not accurate," despite admitting he hadn't read the article in question.
Musk elaborated on the nature of the relationship between Tesla and xAI, acknowledging that Tesla has indeed benefited from discussions with xAI engineers. These conversations, he noted, have helped accelerate the development of unsupervised FSD. However, he was quick to clarify that this knowledge exchange doesn't necessitate any formal licensing agreement between the two companies.
"Tesla has learned a lot from discussions with engineers at xAI that have helped accelerate achieving unsupervised FSD, but there is no need to license anything from xAI," Musk stated.
Why xAI Models Won't Power Tesla's FSD
Looking closer at the technical aspects, Musk explained why the idea of xAI's models directly powering Tesla's vehicles is impractical. He pointed out that xAI's models are massive, containing "in compressed form, most of human knowledge." These models are simply too large and complex to run on Tesla's vehicle inference computers.
Moreover, Musk highlighted the fundamental differences between xAI's large language models and Tesla's AI systems. Tesla's AI, he explained, excels at translating real-world video feeds into driving commands, operating on a relatively modest 300W computer. This system processes several gigabytes of data from multiple camera feeds, resulting in a context size that far exceeds that of typical language models.
Musk's AI Ambitions and Tesla's Future
While the Elon Musk xAI partnership rumors have been debunked, the incident still lets us picture Musk's AI aspirations. xAI, founded just last year, is quickly positioning itself as a formidable player in the AI space. Musk has even hinted at its potential to rival industry giants like OpenAI by the end of 2024.
As for Tesla, the company continues to push the boundaries of autonomous driving technology. The recent controversy has only shown us the intense interest and scrutiny surrounding Tesla's AI developments, particularly in the realm of Full Self-Driving capabilities.