This is how Elon Musk’s AI company xAI wants to change the industry
3 min readElon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur known for his electric cars and rockets, has founded a new artificial intelligence (AI) startup called xAI. At its core, the company aims to challenge existing big AI companies like OpenAI with its alternative to ChatGPT.
Announcing formation of @xAI to understand reality
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2023
Musk, who has clearly expressed concern about AI’s potential for harm, wants to develop safer AI by creating a “maximally curious” AI that seeks to understand the true nature of the universe, he said in a tweet Wednesday night -Space event.
He claimed that this approach was more in the interests of humanity and aimed at mitigating the risks associated with superintelligence, which he believes will materialize in the next five to six years.
“If she was trying to understand the true nature of the universe, that would be the best I could come up with from an AI security standpoint,” the billionaire said.
“I think it’s going to be for humanity because humanity is just so much more interesting than non-humanity.”
The xAI team consists of engineers from Google and Microsoft
The xAI team consists of AI engineers from prominent technology companies such as Google’s DeepMind and Microsoft. Igor Babushkin, Tony Wu, Christian Szegedy and Greg Yang are among the notable members of the team who previously worked at either Google or Microsoft.
In addition, the xAI team is advised by Dan Hendricks, who leads the Center for AI Security. Hendricks, who holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, specializes in identifying and managing risks associated with AI technology.
Musk’s new project follows his involvement with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Although he co-founded OpenAI in 2015, Musk resigned from the company’s board of directors in 2018 due to a conflict of interest with his other companies.
He’s been vocal about the company lately, saying it’s moved away from its original open source intentions. With xAI, Musk wants to compete against OpenAI’s ChatGPT as well as Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing AI (see also: Who are ChatGPT’s competitors?).
Musk’s involvement in the AI industry has been one of both support and criticism. While he advocates for the regulation of AI and safeguards, he criticizes OpenAI for implementing safeguards to prevent biased or sexist responses from their chatbot.
The danger of training AI to “woke” – i.e. lie – is deadly,” Musk tweeted in December in response to a Twitter user asking OpenAI’s CEO if it was possible to “woke” -Disable ChatGPT settings.
The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
xAI aims to “understand the true nature of the universe”
While details about xAI are still limited, the site emphasizes that the goal of AI is to “understand the true nature of the universe.” The team led by Musk wants to explore reality without explicitly programming morality into the AI system. It seems to believe that developing a keen curiosity about humanity and the universe is key to ensuring AI safety.
xAI is a separate entity from Musk’s other ventures, but will work closely with Twitter, Tesla, and other companies, according to the website. The startup wants to recruit experienced engineers and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
All in all, xAI supposedly aims to disrupt the AI industry with a unique approach to AI development. With Musk’s influential presence and a team of seasoned professionals, xAI has the potential to bring new perspectives and innovative solutions to the table.
How far it can transform the industry and live up to its mission to create safer AI remains to be seen, but it’s certainly an exciting development to keep an eye on.
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