Musk Creates Polling: Should Tesla Invest IDR 81.1 Trillion In XAI?

JAKARTA - Tesla CEO Elon Musk has launched a poll on social media platform X recently. He asked users if the electric car manufacturer should invest $5 billion in his artificial intelligence startup, xAI. Initial votes show the majority support the move.

"The council's approval and the vote of shareholders are needed, so this is just to test the response," Musk said of the poll. The poll was carried out after Tesla reported its lowest profit margin in five years due to price cuts and increased spending on AI projects.

During Tesla's earnings conference call, Musk said xAI would "help in advancing full self-driving and in building a new Tesla data center." He added that there is an opportunity to integrate xAI chatbot, Grok, with Tesla software.

Nearly 3 hours after polls were posted, about 386.000 people had participated with 70% supporting the investment.

Tesla has not immediately responded to a request for comment from the media, while xAI could not be reached for comment.

Musk, one of the richest people in the world, launched xAI last year hoping to build an alternative for ChatGPT. The startup raised US$6 billion (Rp97.3 trillion) in series B funding in May, reaching a post-money valuation of US$24 billion (Rp389.4 trillion). Its supporters include Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.

Musk previously said that he planned to have a quarter of xAI owned by investors on X, formerly known as Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion even though the value of the social media company had slumped since then.

In a earnings call, Musk also dismissed concerns that he might be shifting resources from Tesla to several other companies. In June, CNBC reported that it had ordered Nvidia to ship thousands of AI chips aimed at Tesla to xAI and X. Musk said Tesla's data center was full and there was no place to put the chip.

Musk often holds polls on X. In 2021, he asked Twitter users if he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares and start selling shares just days after the poll.