Despite his recent outspoken criticism of artificial intelligence, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk appears to be working on an AI-related project that will reportedly take on ChatGPT. The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times reported that Musk has started a new AI firm called X.AI Corp.
According to the Financial Times, Twitter CEO Musk is in talks with investors from SpaceX and Tesla Inc to raise capital for his new company and is now hiring AI researchers and engineers.
A state filing in Nevada from last month, obtained by the Journal on Friday, shows that in addition to Musk serving as the company’s only director, Jared Birchall, director of Musk’s family office, is also named as the company’s secretary.
The billionaire was asked about X.AI by the Journal, but he declined to comment.
ChatGPT Rival Is Coming
Musk’s strategy for the company was announced just weeks after he and other AI academics and executives advocated for a six-month freeze in constructing systems with more capabilities than OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4 due to what they claim is the potential hazards they posed to society.
The document also reveals that X.AI has been officially registered in Nevada and is now funded to the tune of $100,000. No other personnel or company plans are mentioned, and the filing makes no mention of the company’s involvement with artificial intelligence beyond what is already conveyed by the name.
Musk recently combined Twitter with a new shell company he called “X,” keeping the Twitter moniker but dissolving the company’s operations. Despite Musk’s prior demand for a suspension in AI development, this move is considered as an alternative to OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.
Shopping For GPUs
Business Insider revealed earlier this week that Musk has acquired hundreds of graphics processing units (GPUs), the equipment that enable the high-powered computers required for activities like artificial intelligence and high-end graphics.
Musk said:
“It seems like everyone and their dog is buying GPUs at this point […] Twitter and Tesla are certainly buying GPUs.”
In a recent article in the Independent, it said Musk is secretly working on an artificial intelligence project at the microblogging site. According to the Independent, the world’s number two richest man has already hired two researchers from the top artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepMind and purchased 10,000 GPUs.
A source familiar with the matter told Financial Times:
“It’s real and they are excited about it.”
Developing artificial intelligence is nothing new for Musk. Together with the company’s current CEO, Sam Altman, he co-founded and chaired OpenAI in 2015.
The Journal report disclosed that Musk believed ChatGPT to be politically biased. He warned of the “danger of training AI to be woke” and said he hopes to develop “truth-seeking” AI models.
Meanwhile, IDC predicts that by 2023, global spending on artificial intelligence systems would have increased to nearly $100 billion, from $38 billion in 2019. All of these sectors, and more, are showing signs of increasing investment and acceptance of artificial intelligence technologies.
-Featured image from EUTERS/MIKE BLAKE/FILE PHOTO