ARK Invest, led by prominent investor Cathie Wood, has disclosed a $60 million investment in Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI. Brett Winton, ARK’s Chief Futurist, noted that this investment represents around 2% of ARK’s portfolio, underscoring the firm’s optimism about AI’s promising prospects.

Elon Musk founded xAI in March 2023 to challenge established AI giants like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. Despite its brief existence of just over a year, xAI has achieved a valuation of approximately $24 billion following a recent funding round.

ARK's decision to invest in xAI aligns with its recent emphasis on AI-related ventures. Last month, ARK revealed it allocated 4% of its total holdings to OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and 5% to Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI model.

In addition to his involvement with xAI, Elon Musk’s views on the future of AI have attracted significant attention. At the VivaTech Paris 2024 conference, Musk critiqued current AI models for not being "maximally truth-seeking" and instead catering to "political correctness." He also boldly predicted that AI will soon surpass humans in all tasks, potentially rendering human employment obsolete.

Despite these provocative statements, the focus remains on the development of Musk's new AI venture, xAI, and the substantial financial backing it has garnered. ARK Invest's significant investment signals growing confidence in the potential and future trajectory of AI technology.