xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, has acquired Hotshot, a San Francisco-based startup specializing in AI-powered video generation. The acquisition signals xAI’s expansion into text-to-video AI models, positioning it to compete with OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo 2.
Hotshot co-founder and CEO Aakash Sastry confirmed the news in a statement, saying that the startup’s work on video foundation models aligns with xAI’s mission. He noted that joining xAI would enable Hotshot to scale AI video development using xAI’s Colossus computing cluster.
Founded by Sastry and John Mullan, Hotshot previously secured funding from investors including Lachy Groom, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and SV Angel. The company is now shutting down its independent operations, with existing customers able to download their videos until March 30.
