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xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

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Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#731

Post by int_19h »

kelnos wrote: post #625
ActorNightly wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is precisely why there won't be 2026 and 2028 elections. I dunno why people are pretending this is just 4 years of Trump. He tried to overthrow the results before, and this time around, he has support of all 3 branches and players like Elon Musk. US is going to do the same thing Russia did with Putin. If we end up having elections, its actually gonna be worse of long term, because despite tanking economy, most…

The main difference between the US and Russia in this regard is that the US federal government has very little say or control over what are state-run elections. Solidly red states don't need election interference; they're going to vote red. Solidly blue states aren't going to tolerate interference. The handful or so of swing states will be watched incredibly closely by everyone else for even a hint of interference. >…

FWIW, the first thing Putin did after he got elected wasn't to mess with the elections; rather, he methodically strangled all remaining free press in the country above a certain threshold. Basically no opposition TV at all, only a couple of radio stations and newspapers. Massive electoral fraud orchestrated from Kremlin only really began post-2008.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#732

Post by int_19h »

kelnos wrote: post #626
defrost wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The elections are already being taken over .. in newspeak of course. PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS ~ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/pres... The sweeping 12-page order contains a number of provisions, including a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to vote in federal elections as well as a requirement that all ballots be received by Election Day – both…

Fortunately that EO is completely illegal and unenforceable, as the president has essentially zero say on how state elections are conducted.

It doesn't have to be enforceable at the point where voting actually occurs. It's just a prepared excuse to disqualify electors. Let's say Republicans in Congress circle the wagons around Trump and refuse to admit any new members from states that ignore the EO, like, physically. What then?

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#733

Post by fhd2 »

codethief wrote: post #514
kulahan wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theoretically the synergy with Twitter could be fantastic in terms of potential value added, if I’m trying to be down to earth. The others have no real foothold in the real world beyond their own services, and users may flock away as AI integrated into their favorite apps etc. become good enough.

What synergy exactly? Selling Twitter bots?

The sibling examples where good as well, but I think missing a major one: Consumer access. xAI can just merge their chat bot into the X/Twitter app, and suddenly they have a couple hundred million users on this thing. In a commoditised market, distribution is everything.

Also seems to fit with Musk's vision of turning Twitter into some kind of US WeChat, an app people do a bunch of stuff in. Using LLMs to do a bunch of stuff seems to be the way the hype is going right now.

I don't know if I see long term value here, but I can't say I don't see the story.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#734

Post by purpleidea »

ein0p wrote: post #256
CursedSilicon wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"strongest AI models in existence" [citation needed]

See the leaderboard tab here: https://lmarena.ai . Or just try it. It's excellent. Usage is free of charge so far. Subjectively, on my prompts, it seems substantially stronger than GPT 4o and 4.5. I also like its more "informal" tone, and its willingness to discuss the more controversial topics.

Ask any mainstream U.S. model anything remotely sexual and they all abort. Musk et al. claim they want free speech and no censorship, yet the U.S. evangelicals have their teeth so deep into the tech, that they block it or debank anyone who even remotely suggests women should have a pleasurable sexual experience.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#735

Post by acuntcalleddan »

bhouston wrote: post #29

He has done this move before with Tesla buying Solar City. When you do a deal with yourself you can assign any value you want to assets, it isn’t a competitive process. In the previous case Solar City was dying but its acquisition by Tesla was pitched as a great synergy. https://www.businessinsider.com/solarcity-tesla-energy-belea... There were a few lawsuits from Tesla shareholders about the acquisition regarding se…

[flagged]

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#736

Post by int_19h »

uxcolumbo wrote: post #323
ein0p wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See the leaderboard tab here: https://lmarena.ai . Or just try it. It's excellent. Usage is free of charge so far. Subjectively, on my prompts, it seems substantially stronger than GPT 4o and 4.5. I also like its more "informal" tone, and its willingness to discuss the more controversial topics.

I think it’s important to not support products by people who want to destroy democracy and who openly sieg heiling or claiming Hitler wasn’t responsible for the Holocaust.

If you use the free version, you're basically draining his money.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#737

Post by int_19h »

DeathArrow wrote: post #715
sph wrote: post #713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because even if Tesla/X are tending towards zero, the market will stay irrational longer than you can afford it. The horde of Musk idiot fans grows every day.

So, if someone likes Musk, he must be an idiot, while if he hates him, we can be sure that someone is not an idiot. On what do you base your assertions?

If someone likes Musk, they are not necessarily an idiot. They could also be a sociopath.

Not liking Musk, on the other hand, doesn't really tell anything about a person except for that one fact.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#738

Post by immibis »

HWR_14 wrote: post #665
AtlasBarfed wrote: post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I smell margin call desperation. Musk got visibly worried with tanking Tesla stock and pulled out some crazy stops to keep Tesla afloat. Remember, these megabillionaires are due to stock valuations, and live rich lifestyles on the basis of lending against the value of stock. If that value drops and a margin call forces actual selling, then Musk loses shares in Tesla. I have to think this stunt is related to Musk need…

Tesla is still worth more than it was 6 months ago. I don't think a margin call based on borrowing a few years ago is likely.

When is the first earnings call after everyone realized Musk was a Nazi?

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#739

Post by darknavi »

nothrowaways wrote: post #322

> xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent. Our job as humans is to train his AI models until we can no longer justify our existence.

Maybe grok will help me generate a list of five tasks I did this week?

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#740

Post by fweimer »

thih9 wrote: post #679
krapp wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess we'll see what matters when Trump orders the tanks to roll into Canada.

This wouldn’t happen today. Today there is talk about Canada becoming 51st state; there is relatively little opposition to that - on the contrary, the perception of Canada as a US ally drops in the US[1]. Four more years of this and I could see people similarly accepting tanks. And if you want to prevent this, the time to act is now. [1]: https://apnews.com/article/trump-poll-allies-enemies-friends...

Surely no one currently in power wants Canadians to vote in U.S. Federal elections? So it has to be a setup like Puerto Rico (U.S. citizenship without representation in Washington) or even American Samoa (no U.S. citizenship). The 51st state thing does not make sense at all.
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