Elon Musk said he will ask Tesla Inc. shareholders to authorize an investment in his artificial-intelligence startup xAI, while ruling out a merger between the two companies. The vote would further entwine Musk’s businesses as the billionaire expands the reach of xAI’s Grok chatbot, which is being deployed in Tesla vehicles. Musk’s announcement followed a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX plans to channel about $2 billion into xAI as part of a $5 billion funding round aimed at accelerating the startup’s research and global rollout. SpaceX’s Starlink network is expected to provide the low-latency connectivity xAI needs for large-scale inference, underscoring what investors describe as a vertically integrated AI strategy across Musk’s companies. Tesla shares rose in early trading on Monday after the remarks. Some analysts welcomed the prospect of gaining financial exposure to xAI, although others warned of potential conflicts reminiscent of Tesla’s 2016 purchase of SolarCity. The automaker has scheduled its annual shareholder meeting for Nov. 6, giving investors a likely forum to vote on the proposed stake.