Investing.com -- Elon Musk's xAI has announced that it has raised $6 billion in series B funding, giving the artificial intelligence company widely viewed as a burgeoning rival to ChatGPT-maker OpenAI a post-money valuation of $24 billion.
In a statement dated on Sunday, xAI said that the funding round included participation from high-profile venture capital names like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. Musk said that xAI had a pre-money valuation of $18 billion.
xAI said that the funds will be used to help it bring its first products to market, build "advanced infrastructure," and "accelerate the research and development of future technologies." Last year, the company said it was developing a new chatbot called "Grok" that would be available for paying users of X, the social media platform owned by Musk.
The funding turns xAI into one of the richest challengers to Microsoft-backed OpenAI, which has become a figurehead of an ongoing surge in enthusiasm around the applications of artificial intelligence. Other major tech groups, including Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), are also spending heavily as they push to secure their position in the AI race.