- Elon Musk launched AI venture Macrohard under his xAI initiative on August 22
- Macrohard aims to simulate software companies like Microsoft entirely with AI
- xAI filed a trademark for Macrohard covering AI speech and chatbot software
Elon Musk has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture under his xAI initiative, taking on the mighty Microsoft. The project, Macrohard, was announced by Musk on X (formerly Twitter) on August 22. “It's a tongue-in-cheek name, but the project is very real!” he wrote.
Explaining his vision, Musk said that AI could simulate an entire software company, noting that companies such as Microsoft do not produce physical hardware themselves.
“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 stated.
Join @xAI and help build a purely AI software company called Macrohard. It's a tongue-in-cheek name, but the project is very real!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2025
In principle, given that software companies like Microsoft do not themselves manufacture any physical hardware, it should be possible to simulate…
According to filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, xAI applied for a trademark for “Macrohard” on August 1. The application outlines a broad spectrum of AI-driven products and services, including “downloadable computer software for the artificial production of human speech and text” and “downloadable computer chatbot software for simulating conversations.”
The project builds on Musk's earlier hints. In July 2025, he revealed plans for a “multi-agent AI software company” powered by xAI's Grok chatbot. The aim, he said back then, was to develop “hundreds of specialised coding and image/video generation/understanding agents all working together.”
These agents, he wrote, could mimic human users by “interacting with the software in virtual machines until the result is excellent.” At the time, Musk teased the name of the venture, writing: “This is a macro challenge and a hard problem with stiff competition! Can you guess the name of this company?” he wrote.
We are creating a multi-agent AI software company @xAI, where @Grok spawns hundreds of specialized coding and image/video generation/understanding agents all working together and then emulates humans interacting with the software in virtual machines until the result is excellent.… https://t.co/RKztKVTq2e
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2025
In a 2024 earnings call, he dismissed the idea of his electric vehicle company, Tesla, as just an automaker, insisting those who viewed it that way had “the wrong framework”, reported Business Insider. Instead, he called Tesla an “AI robotics company.” He has since leaned heavily into projects such as robotaxis and humanoid robots, while encouraging Tesla to support xAI financially, reported Business Insider.
Musk's long-running jibes at Microsoft also frame this move. Back in 2021, he posted, “Macrohard >> Microsoft.”
Macrohard >> Microsoft
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2021
In July 2024, he reshared the post with the remark after a global Microsoft outage disrupted services for millions of users.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 19, 2024
According to Teslarati, Macrohard is closely tied to xAI's Colossus 2 supercomputer initiative in Memphis. Musk has confirmed plans to acquire millions of Nvidia GPUs to power the project, joining rivals like OpenAI and Meta in the escalating contest for AI computing capacity. Colossus is already among the most powerful supercomputing clusters in the world, and Musk has indicated it is still being scaled up.
Macrohard will join Musk's expanding portfolio, which includes Tesla, xAI, X Corp, SpaceX, The Boring Company and Neuralink.
