Elon Musk is intensifying his political and technological influence through high-stakes maneuvers in AI, social media, and GOP campaign funding. Musk is positioning himself as a political powerbroker by committing significant capital to the 2026 midterms while simultaneously escalating an AI arms race. His xAI venture recently secured $20 billion in funding to scale the Memphis data center to nearly 2 gigawatts, even as he publicly criticizes the Apple-Google AI partnership as a dangerous concentration of power. However, this expansion faces severe regulatory headwinds; the Grok chatbot's involvement in non-consensual deepfake controversies led to bans in Indonesia and Malaysia and triggered a UK Ofcom investigation. Despite these legal challenges and the potential for X to be banned in certain regions, Musk continues to leverage his platform to influence international affairs, including a potential collaboration with Donald Trump to provide Starlink internet access to Iranian protesters.
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