SpaceX

Elon Musk on Friday evening announced he has sold his social media company, X, to xAI, his artificial intelligence company, in a deal that values X at $33 billion, much less than he paid for it in 2022 but a significant rebound from its moribund valuation just a few months ago.

Underlying the personal feud is Musk's legal challenge to OpenAI, which threatens to slow the company's efforts at a time when the AI race is heating up.

OpenAI and Elon Musk have agreed to fast-track a trial over OpenAI's for-profit shift, the latest turn in a grudge match between the world's richest person and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman playing out publicly in court.

Musk bid for OpenAI at $97.4 billion in February to gain control over the nonprofit assets because he thinks the company is taking a "dangerous direction" and it's important to "return to the open-source safety-focused force for good it once was."

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly evolved from a futuristic concept into a defining force shaping industries, economies, and societies. At

In wide-ranging comments over videocall, Musk said the Trump Administration needs to "delete entire agencies."

Ownership of the non-profit side of the business could give a Musk-led group a significant stake in the for-profit company.

At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the fledgling startup that led to Altman becoming OpenAI's CEO.