Elon Musk says Google has the best shot at being the leader in AI

Elon Musk said Google “currently has the highest probability of being the leader” in AI because it has the “biggest compute (and data) advantage for now.” Samuel Corum via Getty Images

Elon Musk says Google “currently has the highest probability of being the leader” in AI.
But that “may change in a few years,” he added.
Musk’s comment comes as he again escalates his ongoing feud with Sam Altman and OpenAI.

xAI CEO Elon Musk paid a rare compliment to his rival Google on Wednesday.

“Outside of real-world AI, Google has the biggest compute (and data) advantage for now, so currently has the highest probability of being the leader,” Musk wrote in an X post.

But that “may change in a few years,” he added.

“For the foreseeable future, the major AI companies will continue to prosper, as will xAI. There is just so much to do!” Musk wrote.

Musk and Google did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Google has long been a mainstay in AI.

In 2017, Google Research released a paper titled “Attention Is All You Need.” This seminal work introduced the world to the concept of the Transformer, the technology that powers large language models like ChatGPT.

The search giant has also invested in AI startups such as Anthropic and Safe Superintelligence. Google owns a 14% stake in Anthropic, a startup founded by former OpenAI employees, per legal filings obtained by The New York Times.

Google has continued to make hefty investments in AI. During its second-quarter earnings call last month, the company said it was raising its capital expenditures by $10 billion this year to $85 billion. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, said the increase in capital expenditures would help meet the increased demand for chips and Google’s AI products.

Last year, Google DeepMind’s CEO, Demis Hassabis, was one of three researchers awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Hassabis and his colleague, John Jumper, were recognized for Google DeepMind’s work on protein-structure prediction.

Musk’s comments come as he continues to escalate his feud with Sam Altman and OpenAI. On Monday, Musk said xAI would take “immediate legal action” against Apple for what he said was Apple’s bias toward OpenAI in its App Store rankings. A spokesperson for Apple told Business Insider on Tuesday that the App Store is “designed to be fair and free of bias.”

Musk and Altman cofounded OpenAI in 2015, but their relationship soured after Musk left its board in 2018. Last year, Musk sued OpenAI and accused the ChatGPT maker of violating its nonprofit mission when it partnered with Microsoft.

Musk launched his own AI startup, xAI, in July 2023 and debuted his chatbot, Grok, later that year. xAI raised over $12 billion in its Series A, B, and C funding rounds in 2024 and was valued at a reported $50 billion.

Last month, Musk said on X that his EV company, Tesla, will ask its shareholders to vote on whether to invest in xAI. He did not specify when the vote would take place.

“It’s not up to me. If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago,” Musk wrote on X on July 13.