Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX [AP via Yonhap]
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX [AP via Yonhap]

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, expressed confidence in his AI business Wednesday, saying the company plans to train its Grok AI model on employees' thoughts and ideas.

According to Business Insider, Musk shared his vision for the company's future at an all-hands meeting Wednesday, telling staff that "AI is a very important part of SpaceX's future."

"Probably, certainly by next month, AI revenue will be greater than all the rest of SpaceX's business combined," he said, adding that AI sales would "far exceed" other divisions by the fourth quarter.

SpaceX divides its operations into three broad segments — connectivity, aerospace and AI — with the connectivity segment, which encompasses satellite internet services including Starlink, consistently driving the bulk of revenue.

In the most recent second-quarter earnings report, connectivity accounted for more than half of total sales, bringing in $4.29 billion out of $7.8 billion in total revenue.

Starlink has been expanding rapidly beyond remote areas lacking conventional internet access into aviation and automotive connectivity, and some analysts expect the company to enter the direct mobile telecommunications market.

Musk's bullish AI outlook came despite the strength of SpaceX's connectivity business and its large aerospace contracts with NASA.

Musk also outlined plans to train Grok, the company's large language model, on internal data. "We're going to train Grok on all of SpaceX's information, and it's going to learn from you," he told employees.

He called staff the "parents of AI," saying the model would "inherit your thoughts, ideas and beliefs."

However, Musk did not elaborate on how SpaceX would use employee data to train Grok.

He also predicted that AI-driven internet traffic would reach 1,000 times the volume of conventional internet traffic within five years, and reiterated his goal of making humanity a "multiplanetary species."

SpaceX's share price rose after the all-hands meeting details became public and news broke that 24 additional Starlink satellites had been launched. According to Barron's, the stock surged as much as 11 percent during trading Wednesday, reaching $148.44 per share.


husn7@heraldcorp.com