xAI's Big Bold Move Doesn't Tackle Tesla

Elon Musk popped onto X on Monday to set the record straight: he's not in favor of folding xAI into Tesla TSLA, despite a flurry of speculation. A follower asked, and Musk gave a flat no to merging his AI lab with the electric?car maker.

Just a day earlier he'd hinted at asking Tesla shareholders to weigh in on whether the company should invest in xAI. It sounded like a trial balloon for deeper ties, but he's clearly keeping his options open.

Rewind to last year and Musk was talking up a potential $5 billion Tesla stake in xAI as a way to test the waters. He stressed afterward that any deal would need sign?off from Tesla's board and a majority of investors.

Then this spring he quietly stitched xAI together with X (formerly Twitter), creating a hybrid social?media and AI outfit. That move supercharged distribution of the Grok chatbot and grabbed headlines.

Today that combined entity carries a roughly $113 billion valuation, proof that Musk can still surprise the market. Even so, he's drawn a firm line: xAI and Tesla will march to their own beats, each chasing its own frontier.