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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Nick Robins-Early

Elon Musk’s xAI announces it has raised $20bn amid backlash over Grok deepfakes

the xAI Grok logo is displayed on a smartphone screen next to an image of a man smiling in a suit
xAI’s Series E funding round featured big-name investors, including Nvidia, Fidelity Management and Resource Company, and Valor Equity Partners. Photograph: Algi Febri Sugita/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has raised $20bn in its latest funding round, the startup announced Tuesday, even as its marquee chatbot Grok faces backlash over generating sexualized, nonconsensual images of women and underage girls.

xAI’s Series E funding round featured big-name investors, including Nvidia, Fidelity Management and Resource Company, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, and Valor Equity Partners – the private investment firm of Musk’s longtime friend and former Doge member Antonio Gracias. The funding round exceeded its initial $15bn target, according to xAI’s press release. The company touted Grok’s image-generation abilities in the announcement of its latest funding round.

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