The AI Race Just Got a SpaceX-Sized Twist

Podcast: The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
Host: Nathaniel Whittemore (NLW)
Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Overview

In this double-main episode of The AI Daily Brief, host Nathaniel Whittemore (NLW) analyzes two blockbuster stories shaking up the artificial intelligence and tech landscape:

1. SpaceX’s Acquisition of XAI – A multi-billion dollar merger between Elon Musk’s AI venture and his aerospace titan, with ambitions stretching from orbital data centers to humanity becoming a Kardashev Level 2 civilization.
2. OpenAI’s Codex App – The launch of a paradigm-shifting desktop application that redefines how humans interact with AI agents, potentially altering the very identity of coding and coder work.

NLW explores the practical, financial, and philosophical implications of these events, weaving in industry reactions, expert takes, and his signature blend of skepticism and enthusiasm for “batshit crazy” technological moonshots.

1. SpaceX Acquires XAI: The Merger Heard 'Round the Cosmos

Context and Background

• Until now, XAI (creators of Grok) struggled to differentiate in a highly competitive field dominated by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google.
• Past speculation surrounded whether Elon Musk would strategically align his companies (XAI, SpaceX, Twitter/X) into a single innovation ecosystem.

The Deal

• Valuation: The merged entity is valued at $1.25 trillion (SpaceX: $1 trillion, XAI: $250 billion).
• Official rationale: “To form the most ambitious vertically integrated innovation engine on and off Earth with AI rockets, space based Internet, direct to mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real time information and free speech platform.” – SpaceX Announcement [07:20]
• Musk’s sci-fi vision:

  “Within two to three years the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space… [it] will enable innovative companies to forge ahead in training their AI models and processing data at unprecedented speeds and scales, accelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of physics and invention of technologies to benefit humanity.” – Elon Musk [09:45]

Ambitions & Claims

• Musk sketched out a future of orbital data centers, lunar manufacturing, and “500 to 1,000 terawatts of AI satellites into deep space orbit annually,” projecting a civilization-level leap in computing.
• Near-term steps:
  • SpaceX filed an FCC application to launch 1 million AI satellites ([14:10]).
  • Argued that space-based data centers will (a) reduce heat/cooling needs, (b) improve solar energy efficiency, and (c) be the only viable path to scale AI compute to future needs.

Industry & Financial Skepticism

• Media reactions:
  • The Information questioned how XAI contributes to orbital data centers, suggesting the move is financially motivated—pointing to heavy burn at XAI and possible investor unease ([17:50]).
• Investor critiques:
  • "X was out of money merged with Xai Xai out of money merged with SpaceX. SpaceX out of money merged with Tesla when they are all out of money." – Ross Gerber (Investor) [21:10]
  • "An 80/20 split for SpaceX and XAI seems like a horrible deal for SpaceX..." – @compound248 [22:00]
• Profitability concerns:
  • SpaceX made $15B revenue and $8B EBITDA profit last year, but as a rocket/satellite business, depreciation is a bigger issue.
  • XAI reportedly lost $1.46B on $107M revenue in one quarter; needs revenue to double several times just to catch up with spending.

Memes, Takes, & Optimism

• Meme Side:
  • "How did we get so rich? Your dad worked at Twitter, which got acquired by X, which got acquired by XAI, which got acquired by SpaceX." – Nate McGrady meme [23:10]
• Skepticism on Technical Feasibility:
  • "Elon says that within two to three years the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space. What’s the Elon to reality multiple on that estimate?" – Steve Howe, Bloomberg [23:50]
  • "Does anyone believe this nonsense?" – Nick Carter [24:10]
• Accelerationist Optimism:
  • "SpaceX can turn fuel into solar energy. Intelligence turns energy into economic value." – Beff Jesos [24:40]

Thoughtful Engineering Takes

• "Economics of Orbital versus Terrestrial Data Centers… it might not be rational, but it might be physically possible." – Andrew McCallop (Engineer/blogger) [26:00]

IPO Speculation

• "The biggest IPO in history just got even bigger." – Kobayisi letter [28:20]
• "All investment liquidity will be redirected from OpenAI into XAI, leaving Sam with nothing. A 5D chess move to destroy Sam and Elon made the final blow." – Financial Lot Account [28:40]
• NLW's take: More likely, the real IPO driver will be who goes public first between Anthropic and OpenAI, not SpaceX’s mega-IPO ([29:10]).

Noteworthy Product Developments

• XAI recently launched Grok Imagine 1.0, including 10-second video generation and 720p resolution, impressing AI insiders ([31:20]).
• Suggests XAI is pushing product boundaries, not just financial engineering.

Reflection & Wisdom

• NLW's high-altitude philosophical question:

  "Do we want all of our AI efforts to be about better short-form video and more automated ad units, or can we still get ourselves excited about big crazy ambitious things which seem so insane that our first instinct is to plumb for ridicule?" [34:00]

• Tom Nash’s reflection:

  "When SpaceX talks about infrastructure, I listen, even if it sounds extreme. Big systems usually start as uncomfortable ideas... Remember when Starlink started, its economics did not make sense at all. Since then, the cost to launch satellites has come down 20x." [35:40]

• Concluding with an Arthur C. Clarke-inspired reminder:

  “Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from what appears to be the batshit crazy ravings of an online lunar.” [36:20]

2. OpenAI's Codex App: The Dawn of the Agent Command Center

The Race: Anthropic’s Lead, OpenAI’s Counter

• Anthropic with Claude has dominated coding use cases, especially via terminal workflows.
• OpenAI’s previous models (GPT-5.1, 5.2) included coding versions, but now the battleground is shifting from model prowess to product and interface.

Paradigm Shift: From Terminal to Agent-Driven UI

• Codex app for macOS introduces a powerful, graphical UI to orchestrate multiple agents in parallel, enabling developers to work on several tasks and projects simultaneously ([43:00]).
• Quoting OpenAI:

  "A powerful new interface designed to effortlessly manage multiple agents at once, run work in parallel, and collaborate with agents over long running tasks." [44:40]

  • OpenAI: “The core challenge has shifted from what agents can do to how people can direct, supervise and collaborate with them at scale.”

Industry Impressions & Notable Reactions

• Use Cases & Advantages:
  • Seamless switching between projects
  • Built-in support for work trees—multiple agents on same repo without conflicts
  • Skills and automations: Scheduled tasks, beyond just code generation
• OpenAI Leadership Love It:
  • "Codex app is out for Mac. I’m surprised by how much I love it. It’s a bigger step forward than I imagined." – Sam Altman [46:10]
  • "Since using the Codex app, going back to the terminal has felt like going back in time. Feels like an agent-native interface for building." – Greg Brockman [46:38]
• Product Reviews:
  • Theo (AI YouTuber) called Codex a “cursor killer” [47:50]
  • "The new Codex app is the best UI for AI-assisted coding that I’ve used so far." – Nick Farina [48:10]
• Market Context:
  • Some see this as a leap beyond “autocomplete” era and even conventional IDEs, placing engineers as “orchestrators of agents” [49:00]
  • Swix and Latent Space:

    "OpenAI… is out here shipping a coding agent UX that is not a VS code fork. Bears some thought on truly how far coding models have come that serious coding apps are shipping without an IDE." [49:50]

• Behavioral Shift:
  • Dan Schipper (Every): "Previously I was using Claude code 80%...now it's 50:50. For large production apps, Codex is slower but smarter and more reliable than Claude code… the reversal is significant indeed." [50:50]
  • "For the first time in a very long time, you're starting to see some chinks in Anthropic's armor." [51:10]

Identity Crisis in Engineering

• Yu Chen Jin:

  "One person is now an army. Peter Steinberger pushes 144 commits per day on average. Pre-AI this was impossible. Five to ten AI agents run in parallel under his command." [53:00]

• Yet, Peter Steinberger himself retorts:

  "I don't like Claude code on my code base. Codex would be too buggy with Opus now." [53:20]

• Nick St. Pierre:

  "People who've historically considered themselves builders now realizing they aren't the ones building anything anymore…AI is the moral superiority of 'I build things, you just talk.' Mentality is irrelevant now that the coding language is English and anyone can build things by talking." [54:30]

• Signal:

  "AI is going to sever the deepest identity loop in the west. That is, who you are is roughly equal to what you do for money…The next few years will be like watching God being forced to retire in real time." [56:00]

Broader Implications

• OpenAI is betting a new interface and agent paradigm will define the next chapter of software building.
• The arms race with Anthropic is as much about user experience as pure technical power, and Codex has momentarily re-captured industry mindshare for OpenAI.
• Yet, the pace of innovation means this landscape could shift again as soon as tomorrow.

Key Timestamps

• [07:20] – Official SpaceX rationale for the merger
• [09:45] – Elon Musk’s vision for space-based AI compute
• [14:10] – FCC application for 1 million satellites
• [17:50] – Financial and media skepticism
• [21:10] – Ross Gerber’s Twitter skepticism
• [23:10] – Meme on the mergers chain
• [26:00] – Engineering view on the economics of orbital data centers
• [31:20] – Grok Imagine 1.0 product update
• [34:00] – NLW’s philosophical challenge to ridicule of “crazy” projects
• [43:00] – New Codex app and shifting developer paradigm
• [46:10] – Sam Altman endorsement
• [49:50] – Swix/Latent Space on UX innovation
• [53:00] – “One person is now an army”—Yu Chen Jin
• [54:30] – The “builder” identity crisis—Nick St. Pierre
• [56:00] – Signal on AI and the nature of labor

Notable Quotes

• Elon Musk:

  “Within two to three years the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space.” [09:45]

• Ross Gerber:

  “X was out of money merged with Xai Xai out of money merged with SpaceX. SpaceX out of money merged with Tesla when they are all out of money.” [21:10]

• Tom Nash:

  “When SpaceX talks about infrastructure, I listen, even if it sounds extreme. Big systems usually start as uncomfortable ideas.” [35:40]

• OpenAI, Codex App:

  “A powerful new interface designed to effortlessly manage multiple agents at once, run work in parallel, and collaborate with agents over long running tasks.” [44:40]

• Sam Altman:

  “Codex app is out for Mac. I'm surprised by how much I love it. It's a bigger step forward than I imagined.” [46:10]

• Nick St. Pierre:

  “People who've historically considered themselves builders now realizing they aren't the ones building anything anymore… now that the coding language is English and anyone can build things by talking.” [54:30]

Final Thoughts

NLW closes with characteristic nuance: these stories are about more than tech or business—they touch on ambition, skepticism, and the changing meaning of work. The episode leaves listeners with questions about not just technological feasibility, but also who gets to dream—and build—the future.

If you only listen to one AI news wrap-up this week, this is it: a heady mix of financial intrigue, rapid technological change, and big-picture reflection on what the future ought to look like.