Elon Musk Launches Macrohard: AI Startup Set to Take on Microsoft and Revolutionize Software

New Delhi: Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, revealed on Friday that a new firm, Macrohard, would be formed to compete with Microsoft in the software industry by utilizing artificial intelligence.  

Musk confirmed the existence of Macrohard in a post on X, he said “It’s a tongue-in-cheek name, but the project is very real!”

“In principle, given that software companies like Microsoft do not themselves manufacture any physical hardware, it should be possible to simulate them entirely with AI,” he added.

According to media sources, on August 1, Musk's xAI submitted an application for the "Macrohard" patent to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

"Downloadable computer software for the artificial production of human speech and text" and "downloadable computer software for designing, coding, running, and playing video games using artificial intelligence" are among the AI-focused services listed in xAI's application that Macrohard may offer.  

Musk’s Earlier Hints at xAI’s Ambitions

Last month, Musk claimed in a post on X that xAI, a new AI software business, would create “hundreds of specialized coding and image/video generation/understanding agents all working together and then emulate humans interacting with the software in virtual machines until the result is excellent”.

“This is a macro challenge and a hard problem with stiff competition! Can you guess the name of this company?” he added.

Over the past few years, Musk's relationship with Microsoft and its CEO, Satya Nadella, has been tense at times. On the one hand, he has drawn Microsoft into his lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT developer has abandoned its founding objective in favor of a business motivation. However, when Grok 3 models were released on Microsoft's Azure AI platform in May, Musk and Nadella engaged in a public discussion.

Competition Between Grok and Microsoft’s Copilot

Musk also recently warned Microsoft about OpenAI 'eating' it alive, to which Nadella responded in his usual diplomatic manner. Musk has been trying to show off the capabilities of his Grok 5 model, which is expected to be released by the end of the year, while maintaining that Grok 4 is still a far better AI model than the others. In the meantime, Microsoft's Copilot-based capabilities on the web, GitHub, and Windows, among other platforms, have been primarily powered by OpenAI's AI models.