Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly considering acquiring Character.AI, the third such acquisition following reports in May and early July, suggesting a serious approach is being made, no matter whether actual negotiations happen.
The Information reported on the thirty first (local time), citing sources who spoke with xAI’s management, that the corporate is considering acquiring Character.AI as a method to secure AI talent and advance models.
It isn’t yet known whether the 2 firms have entered into acquisition talks, but acquisitions of massive tech and AI startups have change into commonplace in recent times. Microsoft (MS) has absorbed most of Inflexion AI’s staff, and Amazon has hired Adept’s founder and key staff.
This can also be as a result of startups’ lack of funds, as AI development requires a variety of money.
Character.AI has also did not attract additional investment for over a yr since its large-scale funding in March 2023. Even though it is sort of popular amongst young people in the US, it’s virtually unimaginable to cover the model development costs with a paid service of $9.99 per 30 days.
For this reason, early last month, there was news that Google, Meta, and xAI were in a three-way battle over Character.AI. On the time, there was also talk that Google was the most definitely candidate. In May, there was also talk that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CEO Musk were competing to recruit Character.AI personnel.
In response to this report, CEO Musk stated via X (Twitter) that “xAI isn’t considering acquiring Character.AI.”
Nonetheless, CEO Musk said late last yr that the reports of xAI’s investment attraction were “baseless,” but eventually attracted $6 billion this yr. That is interpreted to mean that formal negotiations with Character.AI haven’t yet begun.
Reporter Im Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com
