Elon Musk's xAI acquires AI video generation platform Hotshot and announces its shutdown

Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, has acquired Hotshot, a startup known for its AI-powered video generation technology. The announcement came from Hotshot's CEO, Aakash Sastry, via X. Hotshot, initially launched as Natural Synthetics Inc., transitioned from AI-powered image generation to video generation in 2024, developing three video foundation models: Hotshot-XL, Hotshot Act One, and Hotshot. The company's AI algorithm can produce 10-second video clips at 1280x720 resolution.

The acquisition indicates xAI's move into video AI, aiming to compete with OpenAI's Sora and Google's Veo 2. There is potential for integration with xAI's Grok chatbot platform, as Musk hinted at a "Grok Video" model release in the coming months during a January livestream.

Hotshot has begun discontinuing new video creation as of March 14, and existing users have until March 30 to download their videos before the platform shuts down completely.