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Meta and Elon Musk's xAI chatbot-maker are looking to partner with Character.ai, as deep-pocketed tech conglomerates flock to popular artificial intelligence startups in Silicon Valley.
Facebook owner Meta recently held early talks on a tie-up with Character.ai, which would use large language models to communicate with different personalities and personality styles, according to four people familiar with the matter. Is.
Some reported that the groups discussed their lead researchers who were already working together on initiatives such as training and model development.
The newcomer group, which is backed by Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, has also held exploratory talks with xAI on a similar partnership, two people with knowledge of the discussions said.
However, the talks have not resulted in any deal, the people added.
The interest in Character.ai is the latest sign of how leading tech groups are scrambling to secure partnerships and investments in top AI startups, as they race to develop cutting-edge technology. Apply.
Metta said in September that it was adding AI personalized chatbots to Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, including several celebrities such as rapper Snoop Dogg.
Meanwhile, xAI has developed its own chatbot, Grok, which is available to premium subscribers on X, the social media platform that Musk also owns.
One of the people said the talks focused on advancing research rather than acquisitions.
Big tech groups are wary of trying to outright take over AI startups amid fears of regulatory action around the world.
Microsoft's $13bn alliance with OpenAI is under scrutiny from UK and US competition authorities, despite both groups insisting their partnership is not a merger.
Meta has also approached other AI companies about possible partnerships, said a person with knowledge of its strategy.
Such moves come as the platform ramps up its investment in AI and sets its sights on becoming “the world's leading AI company,” according to chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Adept, an AI agent startup run by former OpenAI and Google AI developers, has also discussed a sale or strategic partnership with Meta, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Adept deal was first reported by The Information on Wednesday.
Meta has taken a different approach to its biggest competitors in developing AI models.
The company's flagship Llama models are open source, meaning their source code is freely available to the public and developers building on top of the platform. OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, by contrast, have developed “closed” proprietary models.
Meta's models are an affordable alternative for enterprises and developers, but investors have stressed the cost of keeping pace with competitors.
Last month, Meta lost nearly $200 billion in market value after Zuckerberg vowed to increase spending on AI as part of his work to promote artificial general intelligence — defined as AI. which is capable of surpassing humans in various tasks.
Musk's xAI is closing in on $6bn in funding, which the serial entrepreneur hopes will help him gain ground on OpenAI, Google and Meta.
It has talked about its desire to build “more truth-seeking AI” and its pitch to investors is to draw on data and expertise from its other companies — such as Tesla and X — Access gives it an edge over competitors.
Noam Shazeer, founder of Character.ai and former Google researcher, was one of the authors of a 2017 paper that proposed the Transformer model, which identifies the best AI models today.
According to a person who knows Shazier, his focus is on building AGI, and finding more resources to do so. Character.ai is also exploring partnerships with other groups, said a person familiar with its strategy.
Character.ai and Meta declined to comment. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.