In partnership with
Good morning ☀️, leader of the next generation.
Technology is reshaping how the world works.
The real question is not what it can do — but how we choose to use it.
We focus on using technology to support human evolution.
Progress works when responsibility stays human.
⚡ WHAT'S AT STAKE TODAY ⚡
- 🚗🤖 Tesla to invest $2B in Elon Musk's xAI
- 🤝🤖 ServiceNow inks another AI partnership, this time with Anthropic
- 🏗️📈 The AI infrastructure boom shows no sign of slowing down
- 💰💻 Modelence raises $3M to smooth out the vibe-coding stack
- 🐣🧠 Tiny startup Arcee AI built a 400B-parameter open source LLM from scratch to best Meta's Llama
- 🌐🤖 Chrome takes on AI browsers with tighter Gemini integration, agentic features for autonomous tasks
- 🤝📊 AI data labeler Handshake buys Cleanlab, an acquisition target of multiple others
- 💬💰 WhatsApp will now charge AI chatbots to operate in Italy
- 🔮🏷️ Elon Musk teases a new image-labeling system for X… we think?
Tesla invests $2B in Musk's xAI despite shareholder rejection
Tesla to invest $2B in Elon Musk's xAI
Tesla has confirmed a controversial $2 billion investment in Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI, despite shareholders previously rejecting the proposal. The investment comes as part of xAI's massive $20 billion Series E funding round announced three weeks ago.
In a letter to shareholders released Wednesday, Tesla disclosed its participation in funding the company behind the Grok chatbot. This decision directly contradicts a November shareholder vote where the measure was ultimately rejected due to abstentions, which count as opposing votes under Tesla's bylaws. While 1.06 billion votes supported the investment compared to 916.3 million against, the abstentions tipped the balance toward rejection.
Tesla proceeded with the investment anyway, justifying the decision through its Master Plan Part IV strategy. The company argues that the partnership aligns with its mission to bring AI into the physical world, while xAI focuses on developing digital AI products and services like its large language model Grok.
The investment includes a framework agreement that builds upon existing collaborations between the companies. Tesla already supplies Megapack batteries to power xAI data centers and has integrated the Grok chatbot into some of its vehicles. According to reports, xAI plans to develop AI for humanoid robots similar to Tesla's Optimus project.
"There are many tasks Tesla can do internally. But if there are things xAI can help accelerate our progress, then why should we not do that?" Musk explained during the earnings call. "That is the reason why we've gone ahead with such an investment. Because this is part of the strategic initiative."
The timing coincides with Tesla's broader AI ambitions, including autonomous vehicle development, Optimus robot production, and semitruck advancement. Despite beating Wall Street estimates on earnings and revenue, Tesla saw profits decline 46% last year, making this significant investment particularly noteworthy.
Tesla's shareholder letter emphasized that the investment and framework agreement are "intended to enhance Tesla's ability to develop and deploy AI products and services into the physical world at scale." The deal joins other major investors in xAI, including Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, plus strategic investors Nvidia and Cisco.
The investment represents what critics call a "truly circular deal" within Musk's business empire, connecting Tesla, xAI, and X (formerly Twitter) in overlapping financial relationships. This arrangement raises questions about corporate governance and shareholder interests when leadership spans multiple interconnected companies.
Musk and Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja indicated this is just the beginning of substantial capital expenditures supporting Tesla's ambitious AI initiatives. "This year for Tesla is the first major steps as we increase vehicle autonomy and begin to produce Optimus robots at scale," Musk stated. "We're making very, very big investments for an epic future."
The xAI investment is expected to close during the first quarter, marking a significant milestone in the convergence of Musk's various technology ventures. As Tesla positions itself as a leader in physical AI applications, this partnership could accelerate development across autonomous driving, robotics, and other AI-powered products.
Will Your Retirement Income Last?
A successful retirement can depend on having a clear plan. Fisher Investments’ The Definitive Guide to Retirement Income can help you calculate your future costs and structure your portfolio to meet your needs. Get the insights you need to help build a durable income strategy for the long term.
Dictate prompts and tag files automatically
Stop typing reproductions and start vibing code. Wispr Flow captures your spoken debugging flow and turns it into structured bug reports, acceptance tests, and PR descriptions. Say a file name or variable out loud and Flow preserves it exactly, tags the correct file, and keeps inline code readable. Use voice to create Cursor and Warp prompts, call out a variable like user_id, and get copy you can paste straight into an issue or PR. The result is faster triage and fewer context gaps between engineers and QA. Learn how developers use voice-first workflows in our Vibe Coding article at wisprflow.ai. Try Wispr Flow for engineers.
ServiceNow partners with Anthropic following recent OpenAI deal
ServiceNow inks another AI partnership, this time with Anthropic
Enterprise workflow software company ServiceNow announced a multi-year partnership with AI research lab Anthropic, just one week after striking a similar deal with OpenAI. The agreement makes Anthropic's Claude model family the preferred AI models across ServiceNow's workflow products and the default for its AI agent builder platform.
The partnership will also roll out Claude to ServiceNow's 29,000 employees. ServiceNow's leadership emphasized their multi-model strategy, stating that enterprise customers want model choice for different tasks while maintaining consistent governance and security on their AI platform.
🎙️ The Supercharged Podcast Is Growing
Conversations with the People Building the AI Future
The Supercharged Podcast is becoming a place where real conversations about AI happen — beyond hype, tools, or surface-level takes.
We sit down with industry leaders, founders, builders, and operators who are actively using AI — or building AI-first businesses — to understand how it’s actually changing the way work gets done.
From strategy and systems to experimentation and execution, these are practical, honest conversations with people shaping what comes next.
⚡ Trends for the Future
Elon Musk teases a new image-labeling system for X… we think?
X introduces feature to label manipulated media and AI images.
Elon Musk's X appears to be rolling out a new feature to label edited images as "manipulated media," though details remain frustratingly sparse. The announcement came through Musk's cryptic post saying "Edited visuals warning," resharing content from DogeDesigner, an anonymous account often used to introduce new X features.
DogeDesigner claimed the feature would make it "harder for legacy media groups to spread misleading clips or pictures." However, X hasn't clarified how it will determine what constitutes manipulated content or whether traditional photo editing tools like Photoshop would trigger these labels.
This isn't entirely new territory for the platform. Before becoming X, Twitter had policies for labeling manipulated media, including content with "selected editing or cropping or slowing down or overdubbing," according to former site integrity head Yoel Roth. However, enforcement has been inconsistent, as evidenced by recent deepfake controversies.
The challenge of accurately identifying manipulated content is significant. Meta faced similar issues in 2024 when its AI detection system incorrectly flagged real photographs as "Made with AI." This happened because modern creative tools increasingly integrate AI features for basic tasks like cropping or object removal, confusing detection systems.
Meta eventually changed its approach, using "AI info" labels instead of definitively stating images were "Made with AI." The company learned that distinguishing between AI-created content and traditionally edited photos using AI-enhanced tools is more complex than initially anticipated.
Industry standards are emerging through organizations like the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), which focuses on verifying digital content authenticity. Major companies including Microsoft, Adobe, Sony, and OpenAI participate in these initiatives, though X isn't currently listed as a member.
As political propaganda and misinformation proliferate on social platforms, clear policies and transparent processes for identifying manipulated content become increasingly crucial. Without more details from X about their detection methods or dispute processes beyond Community Notes, users remain in the dark about how this system will actually function.
⚡ Let’s Make AI Actually Useful:
What Would Move the Needle in *Your* Industry?
AI has potential — but generic advice rarely helps.
What would be genuinely valuable for AI to do in your industry right now?
• Automate a painful workflow?
• Improve decision-making?
• Replace a manual process that wastes time?
• Help your team upskill faster?
Tell us what you’d want AI to handle — or where you feel stuck.
We’re using these insights to curate **industry-specific trainings, live webinars, and practical guidance** you can actually apply.
AI will be the great enabler of human flourishing, helping us unlock solutions to our most complex challenges and create a future where technology amplifies our collective wisdom.
Daniela Amodei is the co-founder and President of Anthropic, where she leads business operations, policy, and go-to-market strategy for the AI safety company. With a background in senior roles at Stripe and OpenAI, she has been instrumental in building organizations that balance ambitious technological development with responsible deployment, advocating for AI systems that prioritize safety and alignment with human values while creating practical tools that benefit users.
🌡️ Use the Satisfaction Thermometer to show us how much you enjoyed The Supercharged today ;)
The Supercharged is aiming to be the world's #1 AI business magazine and is on a mission to empower 1,000,000 entrepreneurs worldwide by 2025, guiding them through the transition into the AI-driven creative age. We're dedicated to breaking down complex technologies, sharing actionable insights, and fostering a community that thrives on innovation, to become the ultimate resource for businesses navigating the AI revolution.
The Supercharged is the #1 AI Newsletter for Entrepreneurs, with 25,000 + readers working at the world’s leading startups and enterprises. The Supercharged is free for the readers. Main ads are typically sold out 2 weeks in advance. You can book future ad spots here.
I'm sending this email because you registered for one of our workshops or our affiliates brought you. You can unsubscribe at the bottom of each email at any time.
