SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk has had a busy week.
The crowded lineup demonstrates both the reach of Musk’s empire — which already encompassed five companies in which he takes an active role — and the challenges he faces keeping up. Musk is caught between a cycle of putting out daily fires at Twitter, where he last week admitted to sleeping on a seventh-floor couch, and balancing responsibilities at Tesla and SpaceX that quite literally amount to moonshots.
That’s why it’s all the more surprising Musk is starting a new company, X.AI, which he founded in Nevada last month. While little is known about the endeavor so far, he has acknowledged amassing high-powered computer equipment to pursue generative AI, the field behind chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Musk’s recruiting pitch for his new endeavor could prove tough, as some of the workers from his other companies sour on the prospect of staying long term, wary of the top-down leadership structure and worn down by the experience, according to people familiar with the matter, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Musk finds himself in an unfamiliar position as he chases the latest tech bet: His business reputation is badly tarnished, and there are doubts about whether he can succeed.
“His political capital, I think, is diminished,” said Gene Munster, managing partner of Deepwater Asset Management. Musk will probably have a tougher time recruiting, Munster said.
But “he’s still the only Musk,” Munster added.
Musk, Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment. OpenAI declined to comment.
Normally brash and unguarded with his promises, Musk appeared to hedge his bets on his AI pursuits in the interview with Fox News, explaining why he was entering a field in which Google and Microsoft already have a head start.
“I think I will create a third option, although starting very late in the game of course,” Musk said. “It’s definitely starting late. But I will try to create a third option and that third option hopefully does more good than harm.”
Musk has long been regarded as brilliant, a once-in-a-generation entrepreneur responsible for some of the most innovative companies of his time. He founded the company that became PayPal, then invested in Tesla and helped it become the dominant automaker in the electric vehicle space.
Musk founded SpaceX, which revitalized the U.S. space program and embarked on crewed missions, sending astronauts safely to the International Space Station. And he purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October, promising to democratize the site and make it a free speech haven. He also founded the Boring Co., a tunneling outfit aiming to solve traffic, and Neuralink, which is seeking to merge computers with the human brain, although both have had limited impact thus far.
But as he’s stretched himself so thin, cracks have started to appear. Tesla stock — while rebounding some this year — is trading at around half its price from the beginning of last year, before Musk was known to be pursuing Twitter. While hailed as a success by many, the unmanned SpaceX launch Thursday still fell short of some expectations.
And Musk himself has acknowledged that Twitter is worth less than half of what he paid for it.
As doubts grow about whether Musk can effectively run his current companies, there’s growing apprehension about joining his teams — which are known for burnout, a constant grind and leaving workers on the edge, according to the people familiar with the matter.
Those who work at Musk’s companies have typically understood the deal: sacrificing work-life balance to fulfill their ambitions of having a hand in world-changing products. But there has been a rash of high-profile departures from Tesla, thanks in part to burnout, some of the people said. At Twitter, where only roughly 20 percent of the workforce remains — many want to get out.
One former Twitter employee who recently departed said many are realizing they are just following orders, with little chance to help create something new.
At Tesla, the pressure to deliver was intense, said former employee John Bernal, who was fired after posting videos to YouTube demonstrating the automaker’s “Full Self-Driving” Beta, the driver-assistance system used on city and residential streets.
“Elon just says things without actually understanding the actual timeline internally,” Bernal said. “And then suddenly we would panic.”
AI chatbots are part of the hottest sector in tech at the moment, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing and Google’s Bard all vying for market share after being released to the public.
Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI to partner on the technology, while Google is relying on its years of AI expertise to pull it ahead.
Musk was an early donor to OpenAI, which was formerly a nonprofit. He also served on its board before leaving it in 2018. In his interview with Fox, he explained how the AI project he helped start escaped his grasp.
“I really put a lot of effort into creating this organization to serve as a counterweight to Google,” Musk said. “And then I kind of took my eye off the ball, I guess, and they are now closed source and they are obviously for profit.”
Musk has been critical of OpenAI and the direction it has taken under CEO Sam Altman, decrying the limitations it has placed on the AI, which Musk sees as an infringement on truth. Musk also signed a letter last month calling for a pause on AI development, alongside other business leaders and academics.
Musk’s new company aims to serve as a counterweight to those forces, though it’s unclear what kind of business model it would operate under.
“I’m going to start something which I call TruthGPT,” Musk said during the interview, “or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe.”
Musk’s companies are also experimenting with AI — particularly when it comes to his “Full Self-Driving” software, the driver-assistance system Tesla hopes will make its cars autonomous. Musk in 2019 promised Tesla vehicles would one day wake up and become autonomous, ushering in an era of a million robotaxis — a pledge that has yet to come true.
And his purchase of Twitter could prove useful for helping train AI, which has relied on troves of information on the internet to build models that mimic human speech and writing.
As news of Musk’s AI bet spilled out, some wondered where it would fall in terms of Musk’s priorities. Munster said it would probably occupy a space behind Tesla and SpaceX, but would be prioritized ahead of smaller firms such as the Boring Co. and Neuralink.
A company like X.AI, Munster said, could capitalize or build on the various areas of expertise Musk is amassing in other parts of his empire, such as with Tesla’s planned humanoid robot “Optimus.”
“He’s in a sweet spot of what’s going on in AI,” he said.