As with SpaceX, then, Mr Musk is gambling Tesla’s future on AI, and his belief that he can harness his existing businesses to dominate the technology. Plenty of doubters have scoffed at his grand ambitions before. But never has Mr Musk put so much on the line. ■

The record-setting deal unifies Musk's AI and space ambitions by combining the rocket-and-satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot.

The rocket and satellite company has acquired xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company, which also owns the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).