Mastodawn

Bloomberg Technology | Musk Turns to Loyalists to Rebuild xAI Ahead of SpaceX IPO by Carmen Arroyo, Aaron Gordon

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Elon Musk is pulling executives and trusted lieutenants from his other ventures—such as Starlink, Tesla, SpaceX, and venture‑capital advisers—to rebuild his struggling AI startup, xAI, after it fell behind rivals and burned through cash. A recently viewed org chart shows more than a dozen top Musk insiders now overseeing engineering, product, and finance at xAI, including former SpaceX board member Antonio Gracias, Starlink veteran Michael Nicolls (now president), Tesla engineer Ashok Elluswamy, and Musk’s own money manager Jared Birchall. Since merging xAI into SpaceX earlier this year to form a $1.25 trillion private conglomerate, Musk has tasked the team with accelerating sales, diversifying revenue by selling computing infrastructure, launching an AI coding agent, and promoting the Grok chatbot to Wall Street firms. Frequent staff shuffles and new hires from Google and AI firm Cursor reflect Musk’s hands‑on, rapid‑execution style as he seeks to position xAI as a core AI engine across his empire—from powering ads on X to future Tesla humanoid robots.

#ElonMusk #xai #SpaceX #Tesla #OpenAI #MichaelNicolls #AshokElluswamy #JamesBurnham #AndrewMusk #AntonioGracias #JaredBirchall #JonShulkin

The Bad Place May 2

US Top News and Analysis | Musk testimony dominated first week Musk v. Altman. 'You can't just steal a charity'

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The first week of the federal trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman ended with Musk testifying that he sued the AI firm because its leaders allegedly turned a nonprofit charity into a for‑profit operation, misusing the roughly $38 million he contributed. Musk, a co‑founder of OpenAI, claimed the company’s shift after his 2018 board departure and the launch of ChatGPT violated its charitable mission and enriched Altman and Greg Brockman, arguing that the for‑profit arm now “has the tail wagging the dog.” He asserted he originated OpenAI, recruited its key people, and provided the initial funding, and is seeking restitution, removal of Altman and Brockman, and reversal of the for‑profit conversion, while the jury’s liability phase is expected to conclude by May 21, with Altman and Brockman slated to testify later this month.

#ElonMusk #SamAltman #GregBrockman #OpenAI #Microsoft #YvonneGonzalezRogers #JaredBirchall

The Bad Place Apr 30

US Top News and Analysis | OpenAI trial live updates: Musk takes the stand again after heated cross-examination

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Elon Musk returned to the stand for a third time on Thursday as the OpenAI trial entered its fourth day, facing heated cross‑examination by OpenAI’s lawyer William Savitt. Musk reiterated that he lost trust in Sam Altman by late 2022, citing Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in 2023 as the tipping point that convinced him the company’s for‑profit arm had overtaken its original nonprofit mission, effectively “stealing the charity” he helped seed with $38 million. He argued that a small for‑profit subsidiary could support the nonprofit, but it should not become the “main event.” After Musk’s testimony, his attorneys are expected to call Jared Birchall, the manager of Musk’s family office, and possibly Greg Brockman and Stanford professor Stuart Russell as additional witnesses. The case is overseen by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in federal court in Oakland, California.

#ElonMusk #WilliamSavitt #SamAltman #OpenAI #Microsoft #GregBrockman #YvonneGonzalezRogers #JaredBirchall #StuartRussell