AI eats social media as xAI swallows X

Elon Musk's self-deal for his AI company xAI to acquire X, formerly Twitter, is the strongest sign yet that the AI business is devouring the social media world. Musk's move is a maneuver to spruce up his overall financial picture—leveraging the AI industry's fizzy valuation arithmetic to shore up X's stagnant revenue and debt-loaded capital structure. The entire social media world—including X, Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, Google-owned YouTube, even the younger TikTok—has become a legacy platform. 2 1/2 years after he bought Twitter, Musk has done little to grow its business or actually transform the company into the "everything app" he once planned. xAI gives him a convenient vehicle to scoot X out of the tarnished social media category and into the AI world.