Elon Musk, Twitter’s not-so-benevolent CEO, right now introduced the launch of a brand new group, xAI, to “perceive the true nature of the universe.”
Formidable? Just a little. So how does xAI plan to attain it? Extra particulars shall be introduced throughout a Twitter Areas on Friday, apparently. However xAI’s splash web page reveals that the crew — 12 folks sturdy, at the moment — shall be led by Musk and veterans of DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Analysis, Microsoft Analysis, Tesla and the College of Toronto.
xAI’s namesake is X Corp., the title assigned to Twitter since early April, together with the “X” label Musk has utilized to his imaginative and prescient of an “all the things app.”
xAI shall be suggested by Dan Hendrycks, the director on the Heart for AI Security, an AI analysis nonprofit. And it’ll work with Twitter and considered one of Musk’s different corporations, Tesla, to “make progress in the direction of [its] mission” — no matter that mission finally ends up being.
Whereas Musk’s saving the juicy tidbits for Friday, xAI’s roster provides some clues as to what the group’s work may entail. Lots of the founding members specialise in massive language fashions alongside the strains of OpenAI’s GPT-4 or have expertise in strategies like reinforcement studying, which teaches AI fashions to perform duties by rewarding them for performing these duties.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson in April, Musk mentioned that he needed to construct what he known as “TruthGPT,” a “maximum-truth-seeking AI.” Seemingly, xAI’s efforts will begin there, maybe taking the type of a text-generating AI that Musk perceives as extra “truthful” than present ones; Musk has beforehand urged that Twitter would use its personal knowledge to coach ChatGPT-like tech.
Rumors about Musk beginning up an AI firm have been floating round for a while, with a report earlier this year from Business Insider revealing that Musk had bought hundreds of GPUs to energy an upcoming generative AI product. The Financial Times similarly reported that Musk deliberate to create an AI agency to compete with the Microsoft-backed OpenAI, even reportedly looking for funding from SpaceX and Tesla buyers to get the corporate began.
Musk’s AI ambitions have grown for the reason that billionaire’s break up with OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever a number of years in the past. Launched as a nonprofit in 2015, OpenAI took on $1 billion in donations from Musk and others.
As OpenAI’s focus shifted from open supply analysis to primarily business initiatives, Musk grew disillusioned — and aggressive — with the corporate on whose board he sat. He poached key staff from OpenAI to work on Autopilot, Tesla’s driver help tech. And he grew to become overtly crucial of OpenAI, referring to it at one level as a “profit-maximizing demon from hell.”
Musk resigned from the OpenAI board in 2018. And extra not too long ago, he reduce off the corporate’s entry to Twitter knowledge, arguing that OpenAI, which had a $2-million-a-year licensing cope with Twitter established earlier than Musk got here aboard as CEO, wasn’t paying sufficient.