Elon Musk
The tech billionaire now wants to get involved in the AI field.
(Photo: AP)
According to a newspaper, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to start a new AI company as a competitor to the ChatGPT operator OpenAI. Musk has put together a team of researchers and engineers from the field of artificial intelligence (AI), the “Financial Times” reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the plans.
The Twitter CEO is also holding talks with Tesla and SpaceX investors about getting involved in his new venture. He has already secured thousands of Nvidia graphics processors for the project, it was also said. Such chips are also used in AI systems.
There was no immediate comment from Musk. Nvidia’s stock turned into a plus after the publication of the report. By contrast, Tesla’s shares were down 1.1 percent.
Musk founded OpenAI as a non-profit startup in 2015 together with Silicon Valley investor Sam Altman. He left the company’s board of directors in 2018. In February, the technology news site “The Information” reported that Musk wanted to set up a new AI research laboratory. He had recruited Igor Babushkin, a researcher who had left Alphabet’s AI division DeepMind, to do this. The two men had talked about putting together a team to advance AI research. The project is still in the initial phase and there is no concrete plan for the development of specific products.
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At the end of March, Musk then called for a six-month break in AI development together with numerous experts from the industry. “Powerful AI systems should only be developed when we are sure that their effects are positive and their risks are manageable,” an open letter said at the time. The authors warned about the dangers of generative AI, the technology behind ChatGPT.
Critics accused the authors of using the letter only to stir up fears. On Thursday, calls for AI to be regulated grew louder after China published planned guidelines for the ideological orientation of its AI systems.
More: OpenAI founder Sam Altman plans data reconciliation by eye Scan
