Tesla CEO Elon Musk has started a poll on social media platform X, asking people whether the electric carmaker should invest $5 billion in his artificial intelligence business xAI, with early results indicating that the majority of voters support the proposal.
"Board approval and shareholder vote are required, so this is just to test the waters," Musk said of the poll, which came after Tesla reported its lowest profit margin in five years due to price cuts and increasing spending on AI research.
During Tesla's earnings conference call, Musk stated that xAI will be "helpful in advancing full self-driving and building up the new Tesla data center," and that there are chances to link xAI's chatbot, Grok, with Tesla's software.
Nearly three hours after the poll was launched, approximately 386,000 individuals had voted, with 70% in favor of the investment. Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, and xAI could not be reached.
Musk, the world's richest person, founded xAI last year in the hopes of developing an alternative to ChatGPT. The business raised $6 billion in series B fundraising in May, giving it a post-money valuation of $24 billion. Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital are among its backers.
Musk has previously stated that a quarter of xAI will be held by investors in X, formerly known as Twitter, which he purchased for $44 billion, despite the fact that the social media company's valuation has fallen since then.
During the earnings call, Musk again disputed worries that he was shifting resources from Tesla to other companies. CNBC reported in June that he had directed Nvidia to ship thousands of AI chips intended for Tesla to xAI and X.
Musk stated that Tesla's data center was full and there was no room to store the chips. Musk is a regular poller for X. In 2021, he polled Twitter people on whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla holding and began selling shares two days later.
