New York, Sept 8 V7N – Elon Musk has refuted claims that his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has been in talks to share future Tesla revenue in exchange for granting the automaker access to xAI’s cutting-edge technology and resources.

A report by The Wall Street Journal suggested Tesla was considering licensing xAI’s AI models to enhance its driver-assistance software, including Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, in return for a revenue-sharing arrangement with Musk's AI venture. The report indicated that investors had been briefed on this proposed deal, which would involve Tesla relying on xAI’s technology for key features such as a voice assistant and software to power the humanoid robot Optimus.

However, Musk quickly took to his social media platform X to deny the report, stating, “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.” He further described the report as "not accurate."

Citing unnamed sources, the Journal reported that any potential revenue-sharing agreement would depend on how much Tesla relied on xAI’s technology. The possibility of an even revenue split between Tesla’s FSD and xAI had reportedly been discussed by xAI executives.

Musk, who launched xAI last year to compete with AI leaders like OpenAI, has expressed confidence in the startup's potential to bolster Tesla’s operations, including advancing FSD and developing a new Tesla data center. He has also suggested possible integrations between xAI’s chatbot, Grok, and Tesla’s software.

In July, Musk revealed that he and Tesla’s board were considering a $5 billion investment in xAI, though no formal announcements have followed.

END/WTD/RH