As Elon Musk's reign continues to roil what used to be Twitter, now a part of Musk's portfolio and rebranded as X, Parag Agrawal, the social media platform's former CEO, seems to be quietly charting a different course. Agrawal's newly minted artificial intelligence startup, which remains shrouded in mystery, has successfully drummed up a significant $30 million in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures, an outfit known for its early investment in OpenAI, according to The Information.
Despite the startup's product and name being under wraps, what's clear is its focus on developing software for developers and customers of large language models, a technology that gained notoriety thanks to successes like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Reliable industry sources have further revealed that Index Ventures and First Round Capital are also backing Agrawal's ambitious project, but the particulars of the investment remain largely undisclosed.
Meanwhile, back at Musk's X, formerly Twitter, the tides of fortune appear to to be dramatically turning. A recent filing from Fidelity Investments unveiled a jaw-dropping 72% decrease in X's value since Musk took the helm—a markdown that has occurred over a bit more than a year. As reported by Fortune, Fidelity, one of the pivotal players in aiding Musk's $44 billion acquisition, witnessed a further 19% plummet in just the span of two months, from September to November.
In the backdrop of this freefall is a flurry of drastic measures implemented under Musk, ranging from severe layoffs to policy overhauls, which have not only discouraged advertisers but also drawn the ire of various stakeholders. Bloomberg News estimates a sharp decline in X's ad revenue for 2023, potentially dropping to $2.5 billion—a stark contrast to the company's previous quarterly billion-dollar earnings. Musk's recent inflammatory comments and subsequent public rebukes have done little to stabilize the shaking confidence in the company's future.
This stark divergence of fates in the tech world punctuates a burgeoning AI industry where former Twitter CEO Agrawal seems to intentionally pivot away from the public fracas, focusing his expertise and embarking on what could be a promising journey in a sector set to redefine how tech interacts with human language and behavior.
