Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has acquired generative AI video startup Hotshot, which had been developing AI-driven video generation technology similar to OpenAI’s Sora, according to a report by TechCrunch.
On Monday, Hotshot co-founder and CEO Akash Shastri confirmed the acquisition in a post on X. He revealed that over the past two years, Hotshot had developed three foundational video models—Hotshot-XL, Hotshot Act One, and Hotshot.
Shastri stated, “Training these models has given us insights into how education, entertainment, communication, and productivity will evolve in the coming years. We are now excited to scale our efforts as part of xAI, leveraging the world’s largest computing cluster, ‘Colossus.’”
Based in San Francisco, Hotshot initially focused on AI-powered image editing technology before shifting its focus to video generation models. While the company received funding from various investors, it never publicly disclosed the total amount raised.
This acquisition suggests that xAI is actively developing its own AI-driven video generation technology, which could compete with OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo 2 in the near future. Elon Musk has already announced that xAI is working on a video model called “Grok Video,” which is expected to be unveiled in the coming months.
