• AI Elite Academy
  • Posts
  • Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6B in latest funding round, everything you need to know

Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6B in latest funding round, everything you need to know

Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, raised $6 billion in a funding round to expand its AI infrastructure, bringing its total funding to $12 billion. 🚀

Author

Fabien B
December 09, 2024

In partnership with

Handle your phone calls 24/7 with AI

Boost your business with Synthflow AI Phone Calls—available 24/7 to handle thousands of calls concurrently. Scale effortlessly as your needs grow and speed up lead response times. The assistants can book appointments into your calendar, transfer the calls to a human rep, and extract valuable info from each call. Integrates with your tech stack, get started from $29/month.

📖 TODAY’S ISSUE

🧵 Here are some insightful AI updates and tools we’ve curated for you today:

🚀 Latest in AI and Tech Discover cutting-edge AI advancements and transformative technologies.

🛠️ Cool AI Tools Explore innovative tools that are revolutionizing the AI landscape.

💡 AI Tips and Best Practices: Get actionable insights to enhance your AI projects and productivity.

🚀 Emerging Innovators: Spotlight on the Latest AI and Tech Startups

The US Department of Defense has invested $2.4 million in Hive AI's deepfake detection technology to combat disinformation and cyber threats. Hive's models can identify AI-generated content in videos, images, and audio, offering significant advancements in security. Despite its strong performance, experts warn that the technology isn't foolproof and could be bypassed by sophisticated adversaries. While Hive's tools show promise, especially for defense applications, experts caution that they may not be fully resilient to advanced nation-state-level cyberattacks.

What We Think: Hive AI's deepfake detection is a critical step in countering disinformation, but its vulnerability to advanced attacks shows the constant challenge of staying ahead of evolving threats. While the DOD’s investment is promising, ongoing innovation and adaptation will be key to ensuring long-term effectiveness.

💡AI TIPS AND BEST PRATICES

Large Language Models (LLMs) have revolutionized AI with their ability to understand and generate human-like text, becoming essential for various applications. If you're eager to learn about LLMs, here are five free courses to get you started:

  1. Introduction to Large Language Models by Google
    A 30-minute course covering the basics of LLMs and prompt engineering, perfect for beginners who want to ease into the topic.

  2. AI for Educators by Microsoft
    A 4-hour course designed to explore AI trends in education, including LLMs, generative AI, prompt engineering, and responsible AI practices, ideal for data scientists and educators.

  3. Cohere’s LLM University
    A deeper dive into technical aspects of LLMs, such as text generation, semantic search, and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), perfect for those with prior introductory knowledge.

  4. Anthropic Prompt Engineering Courses
    A set of five short, asynchronous courses focused on mastering prompt engineering using the Claude AI tool, with practical tutorials on AWS and Google Cloud.

  5. Large Language Model Agents
    A course by UC Berkeley and Google DeepMind that explores LLM foundations and agent-based application development, offering a certificate upon completion.

These courses, ranging from beginner to intermediate, will provide a comprehensive understanding of LLMs, preparing you for both technical and practical applications.

💻 Advanced AI Development 
Deepen your expertise in building cutting-edge AI products tailored to real-world applications.
🔒 [Unlock Pro Access]

📢 Strategic Marketing for AI 
Unlock proven strategies to successfully launch and promote AI products to your target market.
🔒 [Unlock Pro Access]

In winter 2025, UCLA will offer a literature class with AI-generated materials, including a textbook and assignments, using Kudu, an AI platform. The course, covering literature from the Middle Ages to the 17th century, will be the first in UCLA's humanities division to use Kudu. Professor Zrinka Stahuljak provided class materials to train the system, which will save time and ensure consistent delivery. Students can also ask Kudu questions based on the professor’s content.

Machine learning (ML) is ideal for predicting trends and automating decisions from large, complex datasets, like customer segmentation or fraud detection. It’s also useful for analyzing unstructured data, such as images and text. Traditional analytics, however, is better suited for understanding historical data, identifying trends, and testing hypotheses with smaller, simpler datasets. ML is a powerful tool for forecasting, but traditional methods excel in explaining clear relationships and working with straightforward data. Choose ML for complexity and prediction, and traditional analytics for insight into historical data and simple patterns.

OpenAI's new $200-a-month ChatGPT Pro plan, featuring the "o1 pro mode," promises improved reliability and comprehensiveness, particularly in science, math, and coding tasks. However, the initial reception has been lukewarm, with critics questioning whether the upgrade truly justifies the steep price. Users and experts alike are struggling to find concrete examples where o1 pro mode significantly outperforms the standard version, with failure cases in tasks like Sudoku and optical illusions. While the service does offer benefits like unlimited access and higher performance, its value proposition remains unclear, leaving many skeptical about whether it’s worth the cost, especially when cheaper alternatives might suffice.

💻 COOL AI TOOLS

Segment

Segment is a customer data platform that helps SaaS companies unify and streamline data collection from various touchpoints. It enables businesses to integrate data across apps, websites, and tools, ensuring consistent user insights and allowing for more personalized customer experiences through powerful data-driven decisions.

A collaboration tool that combines documents, spreadsheets, and chat in one platform. Quip enhances teamwork for SaaS companies by allowing real-time collaboration on projects, eliminating email back-and-forth, and improving the productivity of remote or distributed teams through its simple and intuitive interface.

A billing platform designed specifically for subscription-based SaaS businesses. Chargify helps companies manage complex billing scenarios, from metered and flat-rate billing to per-seat pricing, all while automating invoicing and revenue recognition. Its detailed reporting capabilities provide insights that help optimize recurring revenue.

💸 WHO RAISED?

Discover startups who just raised funds.

Seattle-based startup Inflection has raised $7.6 million in new funding from existing investors to enhance its software, which helps B2B companies automate marketing tasks. Founded in 2021, Inflection aims to improve marketing communications by leveraging existing customer and sales data to boost product adoption. CEO Aaron Bird expressed confidence in the company's ability to become cash flow positive without needing further investment, giving it greater control over its future. Bird, who previously founded Bizible (acquired by Adobe), co-founded Inflection with former colleagues Dave Rigotti and Vic Davis. The company has now raised a total of $14 million.

Grw AI, a New Zealand startup, raised NZ$2.4 million in a pre-Seed round at a NZ$12 million valuation. The funding, led by U.S. investors, will help the company expand its AI-driven 1:1 sales coaching platform in the U.S. Launched in April 2024, Grw AI has 20 paying customers, including IDEXX and TradeWindow. The company plans to use the funds to grow its product team in New Zealand. Their AI coaching has already boosted sales for clients like Relab, with a 400% increase in monthly sales.

Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, has raised $6 billion in its latest funding round, bringing its total capital to $12 billion. Key investors include Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Qatar Investment Authority. The company is targeting a $50 billion valuation, up from $25 billion six months ago. xAI, which launched in 2023, powers the Grok AI model integrated into X (formerly Twitter), offering chatbot features and image recognition. Unlike competitors, xAI is building its own supercomputing infrastructure, using Tesla’s Megapack technology to address power challenges.

🔒 👉 Gain access to over 1,000 exclusive AI ideas, insights, and deep-dive analyses across various niches by upgrading to AI University.
Unlock data points, revenue details, and more with a 30-day free trial – no credit card required!

Hands Down Some Of The Best 0% Interest Credit Cards

Pay no interest until nearly 2026 with some of the best hand-picked credit cards this year. They are perfect for anyone looking to pay down their debt, and not add to it!

Click here to see what all of the hype is about.