Elon Musk Announces New AI Company
You wonder where Mr. Musk gets the energy from. In his portfolio he has Tesla, Space X, Twitter, the Boring Company, Neuralink and more. Musk is not as involved in all these companies as, for example, Space X and Tesla where he is CEO, or Twitter where he, at least officially, only has the position of CTO.
Either Elon consumes cartoonish amounts of cocaine, or it’s inevitable that not every company gets the attention it thinks it deserves. Tesla shareholders were previously unhappy about the alleged neglect they were exposed to. So you would say that Elon’s agenda must be full. But still he starts a new company called xAI. Purpose of the company? Developing “AI” models, you would say, right? Well, that too, but in the first instance: “to fathom reality.”
New company will work closely with other Musk companies
Musk is aiming high with his latest venture. The site of the new company is not very informative at the time of writing this article. But the ambition is clear. “The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe.” Musk has long been fascinated by AI and was initially a fan of Open AI’s ChatGPT (more on that below). In April, Musk announced in conversation with agitator Tucker Carlson that he was working on something called “TruthGPT.” That now turns out to be xAI.
According to the statement on the website, xAI will work closely with X (meaning Twitter) and Tesla, which has been working on “AI” for some time. What exactly is meant by this is not explained in more detail. The question is whether the overworked Twitter and Tesla employees can handle both their positions at those companies and new obligations regarding xAI.
Musk critical of ChatGPT
My apologies in advance, we’re going to talk about everyone’s favorite subject: the ‘culture war.’ Musk was initially a backer of ChatGPT. Apparently he saw potential in the start-up. But the hope that Musk must have cherished for OpenAI’s project has since evaporated because: ChatGPT is woke! The meaning of the word varies quite a bit. From “black men need to be alert and aware of how the system works against them” to “there is a black person in my series and I don’t like it.” My suspicion is that when Musk calls ChatGPT “woke” he is referring to the latter of these two definitions rather than the former.
Musk’s views were perfectly summed up in a hypothetical scenario. What if a nuclear bomb goes off and the only way to stop it is to have ChatGPT say the n-word. Sounds bizarre right? Apparently it passes for an argument in some circles. Because ChatGPT has decided to at least strip the answers that the software can provide of certain swear words, “free speech absolutist” Musk has withdrawn confidence in the project.
“The dangers of training an AI to be woke, in other words, to lie, is deadly.” Was the unsolicited reply to a tweet to the CEO of OpenAI asking if the “woke settings” could also be turned off. Apparently, the hypothetical danger of an “AI” not allowed to swear is greater than the well-documented worldly consequences of those swear words.
Still no brake on AI developments
Earlier this year, Musk, along with a slew of others in the tech field, called for a temporary halt to developing “AI.” The reason given for this was that, according to the undersigned, developments threatened to get completely out of hand. Musk has also expressed his concerns under his own name. According to Musk, AI has the potential to wipe out human civilization.
Perhaps Musk wants to grab his chances while he still can. The hype around “AI” seems to be fading somewhat, at much the same time last year when the NFT suddenly turned out not to be the next big thing after all. Also, the introduction of Threads, an Instagram app, seems to further jeopardize the value of Musk’s investment in Twitter. As early as May, according to Fidelity, the company was worth only a third of what Musk paid for it.
Musk may be the richest man on earth, but the purchase of Twitter showed that he still has something to be desired when it comes to cash. Whether xAI Musk will yield returns is very much the question. But maybe Musk really isn’t about the money and just has higher ideals. Anyway, I wish Elon the best of luck in getting to the bottom of the mysteries of ‘reality’. If anyone could use a little more realism, it’s Mr. Musk.
