xAI Acquires Hotshot for AI Video Generation

xAI, Elon Musk's AI company, has acquired Hotshot, a San Francisco-based startup specializing in AI-driven video generation, according to TechCrunch. Hotshot, founded by Aakash Sastry and John Mullan, has developed three video foundation models: Hotshot-XL, Hotshot Act One, and Hotshot.

The acquisition suggests that xAI is gearing up to compete with other major players in the AI video market, such as OpenAI's Sora and Google's Veo 2. Musk has previously hinted at plans to integrate video-generating capabilities into xAI's Grok chatbot platform, with a potential "Grok Video" model expected soon.

Hotshot's models will now be scaled on xAI's supercomputer, Colossus, which is currently one of the largest clusters in the world. The startup has attracted investments from notable figures like Alexis Ohanian and SV Angel. Hotshot announced that it began sunsetting new video creation on March 14, with existing customers having until March 30 to download their videos.