- According to a report from the Financial Times, Meta and xAI are competing to partner with buzzy startup Character.AI.
- This is the latest development in the rivalry between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
- The two billionaires have been feuding for years, and are now both competing to build superhuman AI.
The rivalry between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg may be escalating again.
The Financial Times reported that Musk's xAI is competing with Meta for a partnership. Character.AIis an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup that allows users to create artificially intelligent characters that act as chatbots.
People familiar with the matter told the media that the two companies had held preliminary discussions with Character.AI about collaborating on efforts such as pre-training and developing AI models, but no agreement was reached with either company.
Character.AI was valued at $1 billion last year and is in talks to raise about $200 million from investors including Google.
The reported competition between Meta and xAI to partner with Character.AI marks the latest development in the fierce rivalry between Musk and Zuckerberg.
The two billionaires have been at odds publicly since a SpaceX rocket exploded and destroyed a Facebook satellite in 2016.
The rancor nearly escalated into a physical confrontation in 2023 when Musk challenged Zuckerberg, a jiu-jitsu champion, to a cage match. To date, that fight has never materialized, but that hasn't stopped Musk from continuing to taunt his rivals with X.
AI appears to be the latest arena in the rivalry between the two companies, as Meta and xAI, two companies Musk founded last year, compete to build AI infrastructure and compete for talent.
XAI announced $6 billion in funding on Sunday, and Musk is reportedly planning to build what he calls a “gigafactory of computing” giant supercomputer to train the latest version of his sarcastic, profanity-filled Grok chatbot.
Meanwhile, Meta has added AI features to its social media platform, including Character.AI-style celebrity personas.
Zuckerberg has pledged to invest “aggressively” in AI, and said the company's current mission is to build artificial general intelligence — AI that surpasses human capabilities.
The two billionaires have clashed over AI before: In 2017, Zuckerberg called Musk's views on AI “irresponsible” after Musk questioned whether AI could pose a threat to humanity.
“When it comes to AI specifically, I'm very optimistic. The naysayers, the people who try to stoke doomsday scenarios… I don't get it. I think it's really negative and, in some ways, quite irresponsible,” Zuckerberg said.
Musk countered that Mehta's president had only a “limited” understanding of the issue.
Meta, Musk and Character.AI did not immediately respond to requests for comment made outside of regular business hours.
Correction: May 28, 2024 — An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the date xAI announced its $6 billion funding round. The announcement was on a Sunday, not a Monday.
