Musk says no to Tesla-xAI merger

Elon Musk has clarified that he opposes merging his electric car company Tesla with his artificial intelligence startup xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot. The billionaire entrepreneur recently made the statement in response to a user poll on X, simply replying "No" when asked if Tesla investors should support such a merger.  

The comment comes just one day after Musk suggested he might ask Tesla shareholders to vote on potential investments in xAI, calling the idea "great". His latest remarks create uncertainty about future collaboration between his companies, which already share some technology and talent.  

xAI, recently valued at $80 billion after acquiring X (formerly Twitter) for $33 billion, has been seeking funding at valuations as high as $200 billion, according to a report by Reuters. The Wall Street Journal revealed Saturday that Musk's SpaceX committed $2 billion to xAI's latest funding round.  

While Musk hasn't explained his reversal, the decision keeps Tesla focused on vehicle manufacturing while allowing xAI to develop AI products separately. The move comes as xAI competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI services, with Grok positioned as a more controversial alternative.