xAI hires Nvidia researchers for 'world model' AI development: report

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI has hired two former Nvidia researchers, Zeeshan Patel and Ethan He, to accelerate work on advanced 'world models', according to a recent report by The Financial Times. These AI systems aim to understand and navigate physical environments, going beyond the text-based models that power tools such as ChatGPT and xAI's Grok.

World models train on video and robotic data to simulate how objects interact in real-world settings, with potential uses in gaming and robotics. According to The Financial Times, sources familiar with the project said xAI plans to apply the technology to create interactive 3D environments and AI systems for robots. In a recent post on X, Musk has said xAI aims to release an AI-generated game before the end of next year.

Nvidia, a leader in this field through its Omniverse platform, has helped pioneer simulation-based AI. By hiring experienced Nvidia specialists, the report suggests that xAI positions itself alongside rivals such as Meta and Google in developing AI capable of reasoning about the physical world, a step that could broaden the role of artificial intelligence beyond software and into tangible, real-world applications.