Elon Musk is reportedly in the process of launching an artificial intelligence start-up that is destined to compete with OpenAI, the creator of the ChatGPT AI program. The billionaire entrepreneur is currently assembling a team of AI researchers and engineers and is in talks with some investors from his two companies – Tesla Inc. and SpaceX – for potential funding.
Musk’s plans for the start-up came a few weeks after himself and a group of AI researchers and executives asked for a six-month pause in developing systems that are more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. The justification behind their stand was the potential risks to society. Major companies such as Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., and numerous others, have long been interested in incorporating Generative AI into their business ventures – a technology that is the foundation of the popular ChatGPT.
As of yet, ChatGPT has been met with some opposition as regulation boards have demanded strict guidelines before it is widely adopted. As an example, Italy has outlawed the use of ChatGPT due to privacy concerns, while the European Privacy Watchdog created a task force to figure out a shared policy for AI-capable programs.
Musk has obtained more than a few graphics processing units from Nvidia Corp., the name behind specialized systems and computers which are suitable for high-level tasks like AI, in order to boost the start-up. According to the Financial Times, Nvidia could not confirm this news but the stock prices of the company increased after it became widely known.
The billionaire entrepreneur in June of 2020 registered a company in Nevada called X.AI Corp. as well, under his name as the director and Jared Birchall, the managing director at Musk’s family office, as the secretary. It is still unclear whether this firm is linked to the AI-focused startup.
In 2015, Musk partnered up with OpenAI and was part of the executive board until his resignation in 2018.
