Asger Risom
Elon Musk has offered a candid assessment of the stakes facing his artificial intelligence startup.
Elon Musk has offered a candid assessment of the stakes facing his artificial intelligence startup, telling employees that survival over the next few years could determine whether the company ultimately dominates the AI race.
The remarks, delivered at a recent internal meeting, underline both the ambition and the pressure inside one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched AI challengers.
A narrow window
Elon Musk addressed staff at xAI’s San Francisco headquarters during an all-hands meeting last week, according to reporting by Business Insider. Several people familiar with the meeting said Musk told employees that if the company can make it through the next two to three years, it would come out ahead of rivals.
Musk reportedly framed this period as decisive, suggesting that the companies still standing at the end of it will shape the future of artificial intelligence. One attendee described his tone as upbeat and energetic.
He told staff that xAI’s rapid expansion of computing power and energy capacity would be central to winning what he described as the race toward “superintelligence”.
Betting on scale
According to the same reporting, Musk said xAI could reach artificial general intelligence — systems that match or exceed human intelligence — within the next few years, potentially as early as 2026.
In November, Musk publicly estimated that xAI’s upcoming Grok 5 model had a 10% chance of achieving AGI. The company plans to release the model early next year.
He also told employees that xAI expects access to between $20 billion and $30 billion in funding annually, giving it a financial edge over some competitors. Staff were told that xAI could also benefit from its links to Musk’s other companies, including Tesla, which integrated Grok into its vehicles earlier this year.
Bigger, stranger ideas
During the meeting, Musk reportedly veered into more speculative territory, discussing the idea of building data centers in space and tying them to his long-term plans to colonise Mars.
According to Musk, Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots could eventually operate such off-world facilities. He has previously said Optimus could support SpaceX missions as soon as next year.
The comments echo broader industry conversations. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have both spoken publicly about space-based data centers, though Pichai has described the concept as a “moonshot”.
A crowded race
xAI has expanded its data center project, known as Colossus, at a rapid pace. Earlier this year, the company said it had around 200,000 GPUs, with Musk later claiming it aims to scale to 1 million.
Despite the momentum, xAI remains a newcomer compared with rivals like OpenAI and Google. The broader AI race is intensifying, with frequent model releases and growing investment across the sector.
When asked for comment, xAI responded to Business Insider with an automated message stating: “Legacy Media Lies.”
Sources: Business Insider
